Beginning Again

This poem intrigues me from the very beginning. As people grow older, we learn and become more experienced; I know personally looking back on my past I would have done some things differently if I had known what I know now.

The first line of the poem "If I could stop talking, completely cease talking for a year, I might begin to get well." I immediately thought this was going to be a poem all about why a person should heal themselves through not talking. But he goes on to compare not talking with brain surgery - I'm assuming he was using brain surgery as a metaphor; not talking for 365 days would enable him to "renew" himself and therefore "begin again."

The second and third stanza he brings the big question to surface. "Why," should we begin again. I began to think about why a person would want to begin again. I know I've learned lessons through the mistakes I have made, and through that I have become the person I am today; I wouldn't want to start all that over, but I haven't had as tough a time as others.
Maybe he means beginning again by starting over, coming clean and refusing to let the judgmental voices inside our head (sometimes formulated only because we have heard good or bad things - not because we've had that experience ourself.)

The fourth, and last, stanza in the poem brings forth a name, instead of the vague "he's" mentioned throughout the poem: Li Po. Of course I didn't know the name, so I had to research it. Li Po was a famous poet who many, now consider, to be one of the top Tang poets if all time. He lived secluded on a mountain a couple times throughout his life; Li Po was also banned from different cities because people found a way to claim his poems were vulgar or malicious.
Maybe Wright wanted Li Po to get the recognition he deserved instead of being banished, and by beginning again he would be able to?

Overall, the poem made me think really hard about starting over. I've thought that to begin again is the coward way to deal with difficult situations, but I think it all depends on the perspective and the situation.
Which brings me to the question, would you ever want to begin again? And why? What encourages the idea of starting over?