It’s tempting to pin change on dates and milestones – New Year’s, birthdays, the first of the month. Each one carries the hope of a reset, a clean break from what came before.

But no date erases the past. January 1st doesn’t dissolve December. A birthday doesn’t rewrite the last year. Even a new project doesn’t leave the old self behind.

What does work is continuity. Small shifts, repeated, slowly accumulate. The scraps and false starts don’t need erasing – they fold into what comes next. They’re compost, not waste.

Milestones can still matter, but not as magic switches. They’re markers along the same path, reminders of where you’ve been and where you’re heading.

The past isn’t undone. It’s carried forward – and that’s where the change actually lives.