Are things a-changin'?

I went and posted my TOMS back to the Netherlands earlier today, before the Post Office shut. I got the sizing wrong, so have requested a straight swap. I had been thinking that my diary needed sprucing up a bit, and one of their stickers caught my eye, and seems to do the job just fine!

With every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Amazingly, as of September 2010, TOMS has given over one million pairs of new shoes to children in need around the world. So get involved!

I've been thinking a bit today. For once I've had time. Now that we're properly into January, New Year's resolutions start to feel a bit harder to keep (if you made any). New Year is a good moment to give yourself a fresh start - but I couldn't help but ask myself the question:

"What's the point in a new start, if there's nothing different afterwards?"

It came to mind as I found out (with only a little digging), that to many people, a gift of shoes really does make a huge difference to your life. It's a gift that opens up parts of the world that had previously been shut away.

I put the question on Facebook, and answers so far include:
~ keeps you fresh, stops you going stale?
~ things are always different afterwards; the problem is knowing where the start was...

Instinctively I feel that there's an answer that will satisfy me. These two start me on the journey, but they're not there yet. I think the answer is somewhere in-between. There must always be benefit to a new start - but it is much more powerful when you are connected up with the things that are changed as a result.


Any ideas of your own?