I think New Years is kinda bullshit

Hear me out...

We place an ordinate amount of importance on this one single day, as if a lifetime of habits and patterns will magically be healed and erased, simply because the clock “resets”.

We set things called resolutions, which automatically imply a hardening, so even before this “new year” has really begun, we are already muscling and willing our way forward.

Photo: Emilie Bers

Now, I’m all for resets and new beginnings. I think intention-setting is crucial in co-creating the life you want within the universe’s greater plan. I just don’t think it absolutely has to be on January 1st, and I definitely don’t think we can make huge changes in a single day or month.

It might be helpful to know that January 1st is not the new year in a number of countries and cultures. It is a construct largely influenced by the Catholic Church and is a part of what is called the Gregorian Calendar, which was first proclaimed (as in some dude declared it so) by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.

Many other cultures use lunar calendars, based on the moon’s cycles, or luni-solar calendars, with includes some influence from the sun. For example, the Chinese calendar and Jewish calendars are lunisolar. According to the Chinese calendar, the new year begins on January 22nd this year. In the Jewish culture, the new year began September 25, 2022.

Other calendars are based around that country’s seasons. New Years in Ethiopia occurs in fall, which correlates to the end of their rainy period. The Islamic calendar is entirely lunar and the new year this year begins in July.

There really isn’t no single day that can make or break your year. There are actually opportunities to start over with every new cycle—the moon, seasons, even our breath.

Setting an intention is very different than RESOLVING to make changes. It is softer, more welcoming. It invites the possibility of getting to begin again, instead of white knuckling forward with firmness and determination.

Okay, so maybe the idea of a new year is not bullshit. We need markers of time to celebrate our wins and grieve our losses. We should still clap and cheer when the clock shifts to midnight, just for the sheer acknowledgment that we made it through another 365+/- days of precious days that we have on this planet.

But maybe instead of going into the year with a long to-do list, ready to fight, we go into 2023 with our arms and palms wide open, ready to receive the unseen gifts that are coming our way. Maybe we reflect on the past year from a lens of gratitude and abundance instead of trying to see what we lacked and want to change.

Happy New Beginnings to all of you and if you notice yourself reverting back to old patterns a few weeks into January, forget what the calendar says. Simply take a deep breath and begin again. And again. And again.