Can Everything Old Be Made New Again

Being poised for a new year, for change, and a fresh start is an exhilarating place to be. These initial days of any year are always filled with possibilities and promise. But even in the best of times it can be a challenge to hold onto that new energy. Now it seems, more than ever, we need to find a way to sustain that drive.

2020 is now behind us. Many, if not most of us were ready to see it in our rearview mirror. But to understand how to get where we want to be, we must first know where we are. We also need to be clear about how we arrived at our current starting line. Especially if we want meaningful and lasting change.

This is one of those subjects where there can be some pesky “fine lines”. Putting 2020 aside for the moment there have always been endless debates on the competing values of looking forward vs. looking back. It can almost make them seem mutually exclusive of each other.

Like me, you have no doubt seen the many social media posts that talk about the “good old days” with a bit of a nostalgic, even bittersweet angst. Those images can appeal to the sentimental yearnings of our nature. However, they can also distort our perspective and set us up to somehow pit the “old days” against the “new days” in some sort of bizarre competitive dance.

Now, of course, we have a temporary shift. We aren’t yearning for the old days. To the contrary, we are anxious to get them behind us. But in either case, the same lessons can apply.

Which is right? Hold on or reject the old? Or focus fully on what’s new? What if there’s a better answer? Even a better question.

When we face these kinds of dilemmas, it is where we can miss the opportunity to gain the best we can from every part of our life. We want to make things “either or”. But the truth is that there are very few times when we must choose, or at the very least, we don’t have to choose exclusively. It is about perspective.

There is a difference between looking to the past and living in the past. Let that sink in a moment. We can look to the past without living there. That means the richness and lessons of the past can continue to serve even as we move to the future and all the new opportunities afforded to us.

Here are six ways looking back can serve us. Using this as a checklist, we can keep things in the right perspective.

The first three focus on others from the past. These can be those from our personal circle or legacies from a broader stage.

• To honor those that made a difference in the world and our lives

• To learn from the experiences of those that traveled any part of this path before us

• To be inspired by the example of others that the same challenges

The next three focus on our personal experience.

• To see how far we have come. Even if we haven’t come as far as we’d like, it can still be motivating. Life is a check-point practice.

• To use knowledge from a previous experience. Coming through any experience boosts our self-confidence and allow us to handle future challenges with more agility because we’ve mentally already overcome them and know what pitfalls to avoid.

• To create the opportunity to change our perspective. Sometimes in life, particularly where there has been some pain, a distance in time can be a great leveling period that allows us to diffuse the more acute emotional responses and see things with a clearer mind.

Begin today. Look to the past. Embrace it. Leverage it. Use it to make a better tomorrow: For yourself, your family, your community and ultimately, our world.