New Year, New direction NEVER a new you....

So, I saw this quote on a Friend's FB page:
 It is not a little mending and alteration, a little cleansing and purifying, a little painting and patching, a little turning over a new leaf and putting on a new outside that is wanted. It is the bringing in of something altogether new, the planting within us of a new nature, a new being, a new principle, a new mind; this alone, and nothing less than this, will ever meet the necessities of person's soul. We need not merely a new skin, but a new heart." ~ J.C. Ryle
I have been turning this over in my head for a few hours now.  Thinking about where she's coming from with it.  It most certainly has been a rough year for her.  Lots of changes, heartache, and rearranging of just about damn near everything.
I guess I'm stewing about this quote, because I don't agree.
No way on this Green Earth would I ever want New.  I've learned way, way too much from all those bumps and bruises, nicks and scrapes.
I would rather build upon what I have learned, good and bad. Than to start anew.  I have been given to many gifts and things and people to be Grateful for to wish it all away and start anew. 
I will take what I have learned in this past year and add it to the new slate of a new year.
These things make me who I am, it shapes my views and insight, it shapes the way I love and care, IT IS ME.
Sure there are days in this past year I have woken up and would've rather rolled over, gone back to sleep and woke up on a different day.
I guess that is the point of approaching Croning.  Acceptance.  Loving who you are for what you have become, good and bad.  Knowing that there is always another day to make things just even a little bit better for yourself and others.
So, as I read all the post of the New Year and everyone well-wishing.  I will stew on what changes are necessary, but what I won't budge on is that fact that even the roughest of times will still be Blessings to me and mine.  Those times are when those that I love descend on me and shower me with Love, Concern and "You can do this"s.
There are no mistakes here, just redirection.