New Year To Start Anew – Or Not
It’s okay not to change anything with the new year.
Today is the day after yesterday and the day before tomorrow. It also just so happens to be the first day of a new year according to the Gregorian Calendar.
One of the enduring ideas of the new year is to make some sort of resolution. A quick search showed that New Year’s Resolutions date back thousands of years.
What exactly is a resolution? A resolution is defined as an adamant decision to do or not do something. Hence, with the new year, people resolve to do things they’ve longed to do for a while like quit smoking, stop eating sugar, go to the gym, journal daily, quit swearing, stand up hourly during work, and on and on.
Personally, I find resolutions impotent. Why? Because you can resolve all day long to do anything and everything you can think of. But that’s not the same as taking action. This blog began due to my first New Year’s Action, in 2012, to write a weekly blog post – thirteen years and counting.
The new year represents a shift, a reinterpretation of time featuring a restart. Lots of people like to use this as the impetus to change and start anew. That’s why New Year’s Resolutions are so pervasive.
However, despite the pressure to make changes or do new things, that choice is up to you. It’s okay not to change anything with the new year.
Change is the only constant
New Year’s Day, the day after yesterday, or the day before tomorrow, there is a newness inherent in it. Every day represents a chance to make a new start, have a new experience, do something different, and so on.
For most people, the new day is specifically their waking hours. For me, that’s from about 6am to 11pm (give or take half an hour). If you work a night shift, that might be 2pm to 8am. Whatever your waking hours might be, your mileage may vary.
No matter the case, the time you’re awake is your new day. Even when today is not much different from the day before, or the day before that – it still is. It’s not just about days of the week, months of the year, and so on. What it’s about is change being the one and only constant in the Universe.
Hence, even if it’s mostly similar, today has changed from yesterday. Tomorrow will also be different because of change.
This might be imperceptible. Often, change is so slow and small that it goes mostly unnoticed. Many a sudden change turns out to be a slow change only just noticed and recognized/acknowledged.
Most change is beyond your control. Shit happens, good and bad things occur, and it just is. When it comes to your life, however, you can control elements of change by making active, mindful choices and decisions.
Or not. It’s okay not to choose to start anew or change anything with the new year.
Start anew or not
I, for one, am mostly happy with my life right now.
There are some minor bits I’d like to change, but nothing big or major that I feel I need to address with the new year. I don’t need to start anew.
What I will do is work on some of my existing goals. I have specific goals that I strive to reach from Monday to Friday. These daily goals include:
- Editing (1-2 chapters, book or audiobook)
- Writing 1500 words of fiction (blogs don’t count here)
- Meditating (5 minutes minimum, usually 20 minutes daily)
- Journaling (writing in a physical book to collect my daily thoughts)
- Exercise (taking a walk, fencing, hitting the gym, etc)
- Affirmations (cheesy, maybe, but they’re empowering)
- Water (I strive to drink at least 8 12oz glasses of water a day)
I track this on a whiteboard calendar in my office and recently went over the past year of doing this to see how I did. My best was making my goal 90% of the time (editing).
The two I most need to improve on are writing (made that goal 36% of the time) and doing my affirmations (made that goal 67% of the time). Then journaling and meditating (made both of those goals 78% of the time). No need to start anew or change anything drastic, just to be more diligent and mindful.
Hence, I’m not making any resolution or taking any specific action for the new year. I will take what I’ve learned and strive for better diligence in meeting my goals.
It’s okay not to change anything or start something anew
If, like me, you’re mostly happy with your life right now – go with that. Keep doing what you’re doing.
There is, however, an elephant in the room I should address here. Many things point to the world at large going mad. Between Trump getting reelected, the war in Ukraine, the Israeli/Palestinian insanity, climate change, and the like, it sure feels like minding your own happiness, wellness, and wellbeing is selfish.
The truth is – it’s not. Caring for yourself, maintaining your health, wellness, wellbeing, contentment, and even your happiness isn’t selfish. The primary reason for this being true is that you can do more for the world when you are in a better place mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
True selfishness involves a lack of kindness, compassion, and empathy via intentional action you know will cause harm. This isn’t dumping someone due to a toxic relationship and knowing they will feel hurt – that’s not selfish. This is knowingly denying rights, taking more than your fair share, and otherwise inflicting hurt and/or harm on another and not giving a shit about it.
Self-care is not selfish. When you are in a better place, you’re better equipped to help others. How will vary. This, like starting anew or not, is another choice and decision only you can make – or not.
Today is the first day of the new year AND the day after yesterday/day before tomorrow. You can do something or nothing with that. It’s okay to change and not to change anything with the new year.
Happy New Year. How are you approaching the day today?
This is the six-hundred-eightieth (680) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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