Why do we get so excited about new beginnings?

Emily leaving for UT today with her car stuffed to the max!

Every year that I was in school, I eagerly anticipated the process of purchasing new school supplies. Truth be told, I have always been somewhat of an office supply junkie. However, as much as I loved pens and pencils and brand new journals filled with blank pages, my joy stemmed from the opportunity to start fresh. There was something so freeing about starting over. Whatever I had or had not accomplished in the previous year, whatever had happened to hurt or disappoint me, I was suddenly free to move beyond those things, those memories. It was like I'd been given a life-size eraser with which to create a brand new blank slate for my life.
No surprise that as a teacher, I am still excited about the newness of the school year: new students, new ideas, new opportunities, and YES...lots of new school supplies for me!

Judaism has a built-in system of cleansing around this same time of year. The High Holidays are a time of reflection and ultimately redemption. We ask forgiveness for our sins as we begin again. The custom of Taschlich is an especially evocative and physical representation of the human need for fresh starts.
Taschlich--which literally means "to cast away"--is based on the following verses from the Book of Micah:
"And you will cast into the depths of the sea
all their sins..."
During Taschlich, Jews are asked to gather near a body of water on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Some Jews symbolically cast crumbs into the water to represent the sins they are casting away and the forgiveness they are seeking.
I am no biblical scholar, but I am moved by the humanness of this idea. Obviously, Judaism is not the only religion to find healing in cleansing (by water or by fire). There are numerous examples from a wide range of traditions.
The actor and screenwriter Zach Braff was quoted as saying that he "always liked the story of Noah's Ark and the idea of starting anew by rescuing the things you like and leaving the rest behind." Ultimately, we are all tempted by the desire for reinvention. We want to purge everything that is undesirable from our lives and start fresh. It is easy with school supplies: throw out the old, half-used bic pens and buy a fresh bag; it is not so easy with the more complex parts of our lives. Sometimes, purging is not a viable option. Sometimes, we need to make do with what we have and learn to deal. Sometimes, often, moving on is messy and filled with compromise.
However, this love of new beginnings is such a fundamentally human desire. We need to honor its appeal and recognize that we need to step back periodically and reassess the things that we carry. We are weighed down literally and figuratively; we carry memories of bad relationships, clothes two sizes too small, regrets for the roads not taken, furniture that has seen better days, books we will never reread, stories we tell ourselves about who we might have been.

I am excited for Emily as she begins this new chapter of her life at UT; I am proud of all that she has accomplished to get there and optimistic that she is going to continue moving her life in amazing new directions. And I am reminded that I am ready for some new beginnings as well. I do not yet know what shape they will take, but I am certain that I need to purge my excess baggage in order to make room for the new. It feels like the right time to "cast away" the things that I no longer need or want, and I am  excited to see what wondrous things appear to fill up the empty spaces in my life.