Getting off to a new start, but with a reason

Editor-in-chief Ryu Dae-hoon

wherearetacos@naver.com

Imagining new starts always bring us some positive emotions. Psychologists call this the ‘fresh start effect’. George W. Bush won the 2000 U.S. presidential election, which was one of the most competitive elections ever, with his slogan ‘Fresh Start for America’. Barack Obama also attracted voters with his campaign slogan ‘Fresh Start Nation’ in 2006. Those slogans were not the only factors that lead to their victories. But apparently, their catchy slogans evoked in voters some nice expectations as to their futures.

Now, new starts have begun. We are in a new year, a new semester and even a new place here for freshmen. People were all looking forward for 2021 to come. 2020 was literally the worst year for mankind. The mysterious virus conquered the globe, forcing us to deal with quarantines, social distancing, and uncertain economic and political circumstances. But now, as vaccinations are disseminating, our expectations for a ‘new start’ are high up there.

We often set our goals when we are on a starting line. Especially, temporal landmarks are a great base date. It is easy to discriminate between yesterday’s me and today’s. It helps us make obvious changes to our behaviors and thoughts. That is why people set New Year’s resolutions every year. I set my goals this year, like most of us maybe did.

But the problem is, how many times did we achieve our goals? It is natural to forget about targets as time goes and we start going back to yesterday’s me. It needs a lot of dedication. We need to think about the real reasons for our goals. If we want to get great grades, we need to deeply consider what that is for. We should think further than just getting good jobs or making satisfying salaries. If we can find reasons beyond them, we will get limitless power to achieve our goal. It is not an easy task, of course. It can be complicated or even be philosophical. However, there need be no worries, unless you cannot figure out what your real reasons are. Those processes will make you grow as men and women and change your attitudes toward your life.

Once again, we are on a starting line. It does not matter that today is not New Year’s Day. We get opportunities every morning, waking up from our sleep for a new start. Our goals might disappear like a bubble bursting, if there are no apparent motivations. Let’s have some time to think about what makes us the happiest person or what kind of human beings we really want to be.