I loathe the holidays. Not in any kind of Grinch sort of way, I love the decorations, songs, lights and all the festiveness in the air. I love gatherings, parties and seeing friends. I have some traditions that I wouldn’t trade for the world and don’t even get me started on all the good food. Especially the snack situation. (I would like to state for the record that you can bring me Chex mix, peanut butter balls, Mississippi fire crackers and the like year round. You need not wait for the holidays.)
What irks me about the holidays is how much pressure we put on ourselves and this innate sense that we are both out of time while simultaneously standing at the starting line. People are falling all over themselves lamenting all the ways they or the year failed them but come January, it’s gonna be a whole new ballgame and boy are things gonna be different! And I’m no exception to it.
There is something to a specific measure of time that allows us to review the past and plan for the future, but come December and January we can take it to unhealthy levels and I personally have been working on not doing that to myself for a few years now.
This year, I saw a lot of discourse online about the fact that spiritually speaking and from a Pagan point of view, the New Year actually begins at the Spring equinox, when the air warms, the days get longer and the new life of nature begins to bud all around us. During January we are still in the dead of winter and we should be following nature’s lead by taking time to rest and recuperate from the harvest of Summer and Fall so that we are refreshed and ready to tackle the fruits that will come to bear in Spring.
There have even been studies done that show that people who make resolutions in March are far more likely to maintain them that those who make them in January. That doesn’t surprise me in the least.
I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions ages ago. Instead, I do other things that bring me great joy in the New Year; I get a new planner and empty the pockets of my file folder. I get new pens and post-it-notes. I love the freshness of it all. The blank pages and empty space make me the feel hopeful about the infinite possibility of the next 12 months.
But resolutions? Nah. I’m tired in January. The cold and the dark, the blankets and coats, the fires and snowfall… all of it makes me sleepy. I’m in no head space to make such lofty declarations the week after Christmas.
What I usually want in January is to be inspired. I want to look at the world around me to see what it is that sends a spark down my spine. What colors am I drawn to? What makes me laugh? Who am I following online that makes me feel good? I think those things help me define what it is that I want out of a year. I think it’s a marvelous time to watch and listen and take notes. But not necessarily a great time to jump into action or start hard core new regimes.
And I suppose that is why it makes sense to me that the people who make their resolutions in March are more likely to keep them. They took time to rest and really think about it so that when the new year actually begins and the sun is shining, they are capable of getting busy.
Yesterday I saw something that totally inspired me. It was a guy in New York who finds flyers for companies that don’t have the greatest graphics and he goes home and completely re-makes their logos and re-designs their entire flyer and then goes back and replaces it for them with the hopes that it brings them more business.
Yeah man, I can get behind that!. And while I am no graphic designer, I do know that one thing I want for 2024 is to bring more joy to the world and myself, so today I mocked up my own flyer and went out into the world and put it up around town on a few bulletin boards in the hopes that it brings a smile to someone.
How’s that for New Year, new me?
Happy New Year everyone! Whether you make resolutions or not, whether you keep them or not, or even if you wait till Spring to start, I hope above all else 2024 brings you joy.