January, the start of a new year. To me such a new year feels like an empty page in front of me, ready to be filled with new experiences, new possibilities, new insights. The promise of a new beginning. The freedom to change, to start afresh.
And yet, at the same time, this new beginning entails uncertainties, the unknown. And that can be daunting as well. So, promise and fear at the same time. Both giving a certain excitement, a certain quality to the first weeks of January.
And somewhere around the midst of January – Blue Monday, perhaps? – there’s a subtle change in this first perception of the new year. It loses its magic. Things become familiar again. The same old habits and patterns come to the surface. Routines like work, school, and the hassle of trying to get things organized… nothing really changed, so it seems.
So how can I keep that first promise of the new year alive?
I just step outside with this question, taking a walk through the bare fields near my home. Cold wind touching my face. The smell of mud and water. The sound of my feet on the gravel of the path. Seeing the sun struggling through some dark clouds over the lake. A lake that has been here for centuries, unchanged and changed at the same time. That is what amazes me the most: to be in this place that has been here for thousands of years, where people before lived their lives, with their hopes and fears. So many changes and still the water looks unchanged.
And I feel refreshed again. Knowing that every new year I will discover something new that I can add to my life. Piece by piece, year by year.