The old slate has all the great mistakes on it. Keep going.
We’ve all heard the term. Some of us have probably already said it a few times this year. It can take many forms, but the idea is similar…
“A clean slate.”
Start new. Start fresh. Start over. A nice, clean, blank canvas with which to do something amazing. You haven’t messed anything up on it yet, so the possibility of a “perfect” score is enticing. It’s not too late. It could still happen.
You’re smarter this year and won’t be making as many mistakes, right?
Wrong. You are smarter this year, but you’ll make just as many mistakes, if not more. They’ll just be different ones. Don’t stress about it. Being able to make mistakes is a privilege.
Part of improving is finding new mistakes to make
Sorry. I’m probably interrupting all the other “this is the year for the new you” blogs that you’ve been reading, but starting fresh…a clean slate…is not only impossible, but also kind of a horrible idea even if it were possible. What was wrong with the old you, anyway? I like the old you.
I mean, I get the interest and attraction of starting anew. I’ve opened up a new jar of peanut butter and have taken that first scoop in the untouched surface and yeah, that’s probably what hard drugs feel like, but starting all over again just because we’ve finished a lap around the Sun is stuuupppiiid you guys. So stupid.
The only way making mistakes becomes worth it is if you’re able to graduate to new mistakes. And the only way to do that is to not start with a clean slate. Keep those old mistakes on the shelf like trophies. You’ve earned them.
Yeah, you heard me. Keep the old, dirty slate and keep going. You spent a lot of time on that slate and it has every lesson on it…right there in front of you.
It has the time you trusted that e-scam back in May. It has the time you drank too much and texted that person you shouldn’t have texted. This slate even has the time you declined to do that one thing because you thought you “couldn’t” even though you totally could but were too scared.
A badge of honor
The old, dirty slate has life. It has character. It tells a bunch of stories — some, admittedly, may be best left untold — but they are there.
It’s proof that you’re out there doing it and not just going through the motions. It’s proof that you’re in the game, not on the sidelines. It’s proof that you’re not watching the parade go by, you are the parade.
I know, the slate used to be so clean and now look at it, it’s been a mess since late summer and you’ve just been waiting until the new year to wipe it all clean and “start new.”
Don’t do it.
Clean slates are overrated, I think. That’s not what they’re for.
An experiment for 2019
If you really want to make 2019 the best year ever, let’s try this: Don’t start with a clean slate.
2018 might have had a lot of mistakes, but when you look back on them now, they’re not mistakes anymore — they’re lessons learned. It’s weird how that happens.
Now, we get to make all new mistakes this year and I can’t wait to see what we learn.
Happy New Year. Let’s get to work.
#bewhatyoumake
