New Year, Same Me
Welp. There is a list of my new year resolutions. It looks identical to the ones I have made in the past, empty. Well at least for the past 5 years or so.
I just don’t subscribe to waiting for a whole new year to make some changes. If I want to change something about myself or work on something, I can make that decision anyday of the year. I also know that in the past, any resolution I have made, has been 100% unreasonable. I don’t even know who I was trying to make them for, myself or others. I can say with certainty that I have kept absolutely none of my new year resolutions.
I feel like making resolutions is one of the traditions that we particpate in just because, not because we know the orgin or the reasoning, but because it’s what every one else does. Looking into it, where new year resultions originated is actually pretty interesting and makes a lot of sense.
The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year—though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. During a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. These promises could be considered the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions. If the Babylonians kept to their word, their (pagan) gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favor—a place no one wanted to be.
Now, I can get behind the type of resultions made by the Babylonians, they seem pretty reasonable, much more achievable in my mind! But of course, like everything else, this tradition has revolved, mostly into people making decelrations about self-improvement.
When we left 2019 and went into 2020, we had absolutely no idea what was ahead. We went into the new year with high hopes, making plans for amazing things, and excited to be in a new year. And then bam, March happens, hellllllooooo pandemic! Fast forward to the end of 2020, so many of us thought to ourselves, there is no way 2021 can be nearly as bad as 2020. And 2021 said “hold my beer”! 2021 was shit, well for me atleast. Specifically the first 6 months or so. I jhave to admit the tail end of this year has been quite gentle. I am not neccesarily looking at 2022 to offer anything new or different, but I am looking forward to all of the opportunities, however none of those opportunities will consist of me proclaiming my desire to change a damn thing about myself.
As most of you know, I am a numbers gal, so I like to see the proof. Statistically speaking, very few people who make resultions end up sticking with them. These numbers don’t look very promising, but I am also a believer of “if there is a will, there is a way”. So if this is something you feel like you need to do for yourself and can stick to it, good! I hope you have all the success.
It seems like the most common resolutions people make are the following:
exercise more
eat healthy
save money
lose weight
lastly, drink less or quit drinking all together (this is so not for me; if anything, I actually would like to drink more)
Of course, the best thing about New Year’s for most people is the chance to party. I have friends who throw big parties, pop hundreds of dollars worth of fireworks, stay up long past midnight and have a blast celebrating the start to a fresh year. Once upon a time, I stayed up until midnight, having a drink, cheersing, watching all the fireworks.
Who doesn’t love sparklers???
I certainly do! But not enough to spend money on them at a fireworks stand and then stay up to midnight, hell or even dark, to light them. By the time New Year’s Eve rolls around, I am so exhausted from Christmas and all of the cleanup, that no part of me wants to stay up until midnight. I also have 3 young children, and for no reason at all, would I ever encourage them to stay up until midnight. Momma needs as much sleep as she can get, which already is minimal enough these days.
But hey, cheers to a new year. If you have any resoltuions, I hope you are able to keep them, and succeed at meeting your goals. If you don’t want to change at all, I am here for that too! If you wanna stay up til 2am and drink champagne, yesssssss, but don’t drive. If you wanna be like me and be in bed by 8pm, we should be friends.
I hope 2022 brings whatever it is you are looking for.
