I am about to begin typing, my hands poised to write this week’s blog, and… nothing. I try again. Nothing.

Fingers in position, ready to tickle my keyboard, and all I see is the blank Word doc staring back at me.

“What?” I say to the computer as if it’s looking at me funny. And then it hit me. It was the big white metaphor in the room. This empty white cyber Word doc is a reminder that we all have the opportunity, at any time, to start with a clean slate.

Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidences), Wednesday at sunset Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began. As the sun set with its colors illuminating aspects of our lives, and casting shadows on the unknown, we look to a new year. This is viewed not as an extension of the year before, but as a new creation; a blank page so to speak.

It is said that if we honestly regret our misbehaviors and make a plan to improve for the next year, apologizing to God and others we have hurt, then God erases entirely the previous year, as if you never did anything wrong. It’s as if we broke a glass which we know can’t be put back together, but God gives us an entirely new glass. It is also believed that all of our good acts are being held in a bank for us, never to be erased.

While I myself don’t know if all this is true, it sounds great to me. How often have we wished that we could just erase things we’ve done or said? Or have felt that we have not taken the opportunities to live to our potential? No matter our religious beliefs, taking the time to reflect on our behaviors, and making a conscious choice to improve as human beings is not a burden but a gift.

When I first began writing on this empty page I saved it to another computer to complete when I got home, but when I opened the attachment to write, the document was blank. Just like the last time the computer seemingly wigged out on me, I immediately became frustrated and upset, wondering why technology was creating obstacles in my path to finishing my creation. It took me a day to realize what had literally been staring me right in the face. This blank page was a big reminder that it is time to start with a clean slate. It made me realize that things that appear to be obstacles getting in our way can be opportunities to look at life differently.

At this time I wish for everyone, Jewish or not, to find a time to reflect, feel gratitude for life’s blessings, the strength to choose happiness and love, the ability to see obstacles as opportunities, and to have a ton of fun filling up your pages that are yet unwritten!