New Year Stops

In preparation for Rosh Hashanah, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to start a new year, whether the new year is on the secular or Jewish calendar or whether it is the anniversary of an event or job. We are programmed, it seems, to think that a new year should produce changes--improvements, perhaps, in our outlook, choices to do things differently, recognition that with the new year, we are, in some way, starting over.
 
Yet, the more I have thought about it all, I cannot help but see the real value in the "new year" as the fact that it makes us STOP, whether for a day, or for just a few hours. While stopped, we can do the thinking that we never have the time or energy to do. While stopped, we can both appreciate and assess where we are, without necessarily having to decide where we should be. While stopped, we can live in the moment, rather than having to plan for the next one.
 
So, while the start of a new year may be a momentous thing, I am actually looking forward to the stopping that it brings. There will be plenty of time to move forward--a whole year ahead. There aren't that many opportunities to stop, so we may as well take them. Before it's time to start going into the new year.