We are a few days into a brand new year and while today is just another day in the grand scheme of things, these first few days of a new year tend to be a source of hope for a lot of people.

I think it’s important for the well-being of us humans to be able to celebrate the newness, to shake off the not-so-good from the year before and to embrace all the things that were good and expand on it. Doing so is never a bad thing.

It’s important to be given the opportunity collectively to close a chapter, to clean a slate and start fresh.

But what I’ve been thinking about lately is that we have that opportunity every day, not just at the start of a new year, to change ourselves, to see a little differently, and to appreciate every single moment.

New Year’s Day is no different, really, than the day after it or before it or some day smack in the middle of summer, except maybe that a lot of us get the day off. It is one day, one spot in a very large picture.

Frankly, no matter what the calendar reads, terrorists will continue to terrorize, governments will continue to govern, the bills will still come at a steady pace month to month, and the sun will rise and set every day just as it has since the dawn of time.

But, New Year’s Eve does feel good in that we tend to take stock of the previous year, the good and the bad, and judging by friends’ Facebook posts this year, recognize all the blessings that have come our way.

Even though time has no idea the importance we humans have placed on a certain day, New Year’s gives us the chance to do that, to take stock, all of us all at once, and do something about things we aren’t so happy with and perhaps become better.

During the holidays our mindsets tend to be different, I think, more open to what is good and much more able to recognize our blessings.

With the thought in mind that is so prevalent this time of year, to cast off the bad and be something better, I’ll bring up Good Riddance Day, which I have only recently learned of.

Apparently, a ninth annual one was held in New York City’s Times Square on Dec. 28. According to an ABC article online, more than 100 visitors to the iconic place sent their bad memories of 2015 into a portable shredder. And those things shredded became a part of the New Year’s Eve festivities as confetti (something bad becoming something beautiful) when the ball dropped and 2016 was welcomed.

According to the Time Square Alliance website, the event was inspired by a Latin American tradition where partygoers on New Year’s stuff dolls with things that represent bad memories, then the dolls are set on fire.

I guess we all need that, to be able to examine what has been and start new. We don’t need a new year to be new or better, but it is nice.

So, even if Jan. 1 is just another day really, shake off the bad and embrace all the good that can be right now and every day.

Happy New Year.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.