"New"

What is it about "new" that invigorates and excites us? New love, new job, new baby, new home... Hallmark makes a fortune on cards commemorating "new" events. Why are we so addicted to beginning or acquiring something "new", rather than continuing or maintaining something already begun or acquired?

I know...

But pop psychology aside, I think it's more than the mere wish to clean the slate or avoid long-term investment and effort. I think that beneath those obvious contributors there's something inherently optimistic about most of us. There's this indomitability in the human psyche that longs for yet another opportunity to fulfill our perceived potential.

Deep inside? We all believe we're capable of better than we've proved so far.

So we look to the new year as a custom-made "do-over" or "do-better" or "be-better" and the challenge is intoxicating at first. No, it's not just the champagne, the new start can be heady, too. Each year as we try to make ourselves, our families, our communities and our world better, the fact that we try is itself our success. To continue to attempt that which has not yet been accomplished -- whether it's quitting smoking, or finding and giving more love, or accomplishing better fitness, or learning a new skill -- is to give us all reason to believe we can.

And that? That's a cause to celebrate if ever I heard one. Happy New Year!