Fresh starts. Thanks to the calendar, they happen every year. Just set your watch to January. Our reward for surviving the holiday season, is a new year. Bringing on the great tradition of New Year's resolutions. Put your past behind you, and start over. It's hard to resist the chance at a new beginning. A chance to put the problems of last year to bed.
Who gets to determine when the old ends, and the new begins? It's not a day on a calendar, not a birthday, not a new year. It's an event. Big or small. Something that changes us. Ideally, it gives us hope.
A new way of living and looking at the world. Letting go of old habits, old memories. What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning.
But it's also important to remember that amid all the crap are a few things really worth holding on to.