# I want to begin again — Zen Habits for this moment > The restart, and how to make it stick this time. 12 public-domain Zen Habits posts by Leo Babauta for exactly this. You get one, not a list. Source: https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/ Author: Umair Ali Khatri Updated: 2026-08-22 --- [← Back](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/) I want to begin again # The Magic of a Fresh Start Leo Babauta · 2020 · 409 words One of the biggest obstacles to sticking with a habit change, a new system, a goal or long-term project … is that we get disrupted. Something interrupts our progress - we skip a workout day or two - and then some programming in our brains turns that into a message of how we’re not good enough, we can’t do it, we should just give up. This stops so many people from making long-term progress. It stops us from simply starting again. This is because most of us don’t realize the power and magic of a Fresh Start. A Fresh Start is when we get to start anew, with a blank slate. It’s waking up to a brand new morning, with a day we get to use however we want. When we miss a few days of meditation, or eat junk for a week because of various celebrations, or fall off from writing our book … instead of making that to mean that this whole thing is a waste of time or that we somehow suck … we can look at it as a Fresh Start. I’m not simply reframing things to “be positive.” There’s a lot of power available to us in a Fresh Start that we miss out on. A Fresh Start is magical: - We can see the habit or project with fresh eyes, as if we’d never seen it before, and bring a sense of wonder and curiosity to what we’re doing - There’s a sacredness to letting everything go from the past and just showing up in a new moment - We can learn something from the past failure or disruption, and use this new start as a way to get better at that difficulty, armed with this new information, so that every Fresh Start becomes a new opportunity to learn, grow, get better at something - We get to reinvent ourselves, reinvent what we’re taking on, reinvent what we want to make our lives to be - We can recommit, and remind ourselves of why we’re committed to this This is all missed when we ignore the magic and power of a Fresh Start! The beautiful thing is that a Fresh Start is available to us not only when we get disrupted or stumble … but in every moment. Every day. Every new meditation or workout or work session. Every new meeting with someone, every new conversation. Every new breath. Originally published at [zenhabits.net](https://zenhabits.net/anew/). Public domain. [All states](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/) ## The rest of “I want to begin again” 11 more posts collected for this state. - [How to Change Your Life: A User's Guide 2013 · 1,289 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/how-to-change-your-life-a-user-s-guide/) - [7 Little Habits That Can Change Your Life, and How to Form Them 2008 · 1,484 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/7-little-habits-that-can-change-your-life-and-how-to-form-them/) - [New Year: The Beautiful Minimalism of a Blank Slate 2019 · 401 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/new-year-the-beautiful-minimalism-of-a-blank-slate/) - [How to Deal With Major Disruptions to Your Routine 2009 · 1,268 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/how-to-deal-with-major-disruptions-to-your-routine/) - [Become Your New Habit 2022 · 701 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/become-your-new-habit/) - [Change Your Story to Change Your Life 2015 · 707 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/change-your-story-to-change-your-life/) - [Sacred Bow: An Intentional Way to Close Out the Year & Start the New Year 2018 · 750 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/sacred-bow-an-intentional-way-to-close-out-the-year-start-the-new-year/) - [My Morning Routine 2024 · 404 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/my-morning-routine/) - [Create Time to Change Your Life 2011 · 1,037 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/create-time-to-change-your-life/) - [Why Perfectionism Stops Us from Creating New Habits 2022 · 489 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/why-perfectionism-stops-us-from-creating-new-habits/) - [8 Ways Doing Less Can Transform Your Work & Life 2009 · 963 words](https://umairalikhatri.com/zen/begin-again/8-ways-doing-less-can-transform-your-work-life/)