 I find this concept a bit strange, if i'm being honest! I love how it lights a fire under our buns, but in other ways, it really does put a lot of pressure on us to "be a better you", "make all the goals", "lose the weight", "double-down on the work load", need I say more. First off, I want to preface this by saying, I do believe in setting goals! I think it's a great thing to set goals, set a plan, and take action! I don't know how many people can relate to this, but New Years is the absolute worst time to set goals at least from my perspective.  If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it's cold & dreary. Winter is finally getting into full swing, and the last thing on my mind is setting goals. This is typically when the winter blues hits most people. I know I have personally suffered from seasonal depression. So New Years never really made sense to me to set goals, and actually achieve them.
So, when I did a quick Google search to find out when they began, I relied on good ole SEO and learned that they possibly date back to the 19th century and as early as the 17th century. They were making and breaking them over 200 years ago. Then I scrolled down a bit more and read that the Ancient Babylonians celebrated New Years at the first start of Spring, the beginning of March. They celebrated with a 12 day festival called Akitu. This makes way more sense to me. Spring represents planting, new beginnings, sowing seeds, & growth. This is when most of us finally start to shake off the winter blues. So, making plans and setting goals in January seems a bit counter intuitive. On our modern day calendar Spring begins March 20th, coincidentally this is also the start of a new astrological cycle. Aries begins on March 20th. So, I'm still going to continue to write, reflect, and set goals in January, but I've decided to give myself just a little bit of grace. As I age with another revolution around the Sun, I am reminded to slow down. We live in such a fast paced world. We are not made to move at lightning speed, like the internet we all know and love, but to move with the ebb and flow of nature around us. So, let's take a note from the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race. Happy New Year! Let's make 2023 better than years past.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |