Funny thing about New Year’s Day, is that it really doesn’t matter. January 1, if you think about it, doesn’t have any significance.
It’s not a change of season, winter went right on kicking without a notice. It’s not even mid-winter. The stars overhead don’t line up in any significant way. It’s just another day.
In fact, New Year’s Day is only New Year’s Day if you use the Gregorian calendar. A good chunk of the planet doesn’t. The New Year comes at a different time for those who use the Rural calendar from China. India has the Saka calendar. Various faiths have their own, such as the Hebrew and Islamic calendars. Which is much the same origin as the Gregorian calendar , created by the Roman Catholic Church.
The significance of New Year’s Day is largely made up. I love the traditions associated with it: Hogmanay, First footing and the like. But really the day is arbitrary.
And that’s a beautiful thing.
People think that New Year’s Day is a special time of change. True, but the day is not the significant part of that. Change does not wait for a day on the calendar. It happens any time you want it. Any day can be New Year’s Day. Any day can be the start of change.
So go ride your bike. Go try new things with your camera. Get outside and see something new. Travel, and expand your world. Have a better relationship with your partner or your family. It’s not a New Year’s resolution that makes it important. It’s deciding what you want and then going after it.
The date is not important. You are.
Change doesn’t wait for the calendar. It waits for you.
So Happy New Year, whenever it happens. But don’t wait for it to make change to make your life better.
Now is always a good time to make change.
