One challenge leads to another
A family member returned from living in the US last year, bringing his family with him. Within a few months, he had changed jobs, ended a 15-year marriage and moved house. That’s a lot of change in a short period of time.
What is it that compels us to make more changes when we are already in a state of flux? It turns out that research has shown that the start of a new life chapter can give people the impression of a blank slate. Consider January 1. A US study found that 40% of people resolve to make improvements to their lives as new year’s resolutions [i]. A shift to a new year allows people to access the clean slate feeling. Researchers have concluded that we are more likely to pursue change on dates like January 1 because a fresh start gives us confidence that, for example, “I couldn’t lose weight last year, but this is a new me, this year I will”. A resolution puts you in the game to try, when at other times the change may seem too daunting to attempt. Fresh starts give you the will to try, even if the attempt is unsuccessful.
The blank slate phenomenon is not just limited to calendar dates. In another study involving over a hundred people seeking to make big life changes, psychologists found that 36% of successful attempts to change had followed a home move[ii].
When a fresh start gives the impression of a clean slate, we can look to the future with greater optimism. It can be the start of a new year, month or week, or triggered by significant events, like a move, the end of a relationship, or retirement.
In our second fifty years, we encounter lots of change – some of it we choose, and some is beyond our control. Rather than dwelling on the disruption of change, we can elect to use the blank slate phenomenon to reflect on our lives, disrupt bad habits, and make meaningful changes that make our lives better.
[i] John C. Norcorss, Marci S. Mryalko, and Mattew D. Blagys, “’Auld Lang Syne’: Success predictors, Change Processes, and Self-reported Outcomes of New Year’s Resolvers and Non-resolvers,” Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, no. 4 (April 2002): 397-405, DOI: 10.1002/jclp.1151
[ii] Todd F. Heatherton and Patricia A. Nichols, “Personal Accounts of Successful Versus Failed Attempts at Life Change,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, no. 6 (December 1994): 664-75, DOI: 10.1177/0146167294202005.