This old world is a new world, bold world

The Retune Blog - 5th January 2024

I wonder if you are someone who makes New Year resolutions? Personally, I don’t make specific resolutions as such, but I certainly do see it as a time to reset and restart. I think my feelings are perhaps best expressed through the Nina Simone classic Feeling Good:

It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me. And I'm feeling good.

This idea of a point in time, such as the new year, or the start of a new school year, marking a transition from the past to the future can help give ourselves permission to put the past to bed and start with a clean sheet, and a new approach. Again, this is echoed in the song:

And this old world is a new world, and a bold world for me.

This transition point principle is recognised in psychological research as providing us with the opportunity to distance ourselves from previous failures and shortcomings, reset and restart. It provides us with the opportunity to reconsider, refocus, and be empowered by a renewed optimism and motivation.

Psychologists have been able to demonstrate this principle also being at work during other restarts in life such as moving to a new home or a new job. Both of these in a very literal sense can reflect the idea of leaving the past behind and starting with a clean slate.

So we are now presented with the reset of a new year ahead of us. We can put the past to bed and start again (although this is not to say the consequences will go away). The question is how we will use this opportunity of the new year ahead of us.