27. A PHILOSOPHY OF NEW YEARS - Why We Should Embrace The January Illusion
There is something magical about a new year even though I am fairly confident there is
a) no such thing as magic (beyond Vegas-style illusions) and
b) the “new year” is really just “the next day” after December 31st.
Nothing has actually changed just because you replace one calendar with another and start writing 2020 instead of 2019.
And yet...
There is an unmistakable sense of potential and excitement as your social media feed fills with people reminiscing back on the year that was and setting out their hopes and goals for the next twelve months. And that narrative is echoed across non-social media too, as journalists and celebrities share their memories of the old year along with countless “best of” end of year lists. It becomes a common language to speak of resolutions; a concept we seldom speak to our friends and family about in, say, June. I would never normally catch up with an old mate and ask them if they have any plans to do things differently - better - from this point on. But at the end of December this is a perfectly normal thing to do and and an acceptable part of the conversation.
And, most importantly, we do it ourselves too. Take stock. Audit. What went well and how could I improve being me going forward? What do I need to do more of? What do I need to change?
Some find this whole thing entirely unhelpful and like to spend the first few weeks of the new year reminding everyone how seldom new year’s resolutions are actually stuck to. How, if you were really going to lose all that weight, take up that new hobby, or give more to charity, you would have done it already. And perhaps they have a point. Many of the big, positive life changes I have made have not taken place on January 1st, but rather on a random Tuesday in November, or a particularly inspiring Thursday in May. This blog itself began life in September from an idea formed the previous June. Looking back, I believe my decision to become a teacher took place one April about a decade ago. When I asked my wife to marry me, it was at the start of August. Meanwhile last year’s January resolution to get off Facebook lasted only until June. The year before I made a vow to never look at my phone while watching TV...to just doing one thing at once instead of two. Last night I was carrying out entire conversations on my phone, in three different countries, while “watching” Graham Norton and reading the news. They can’t all be winners.
That said, a few Januarys ago I committed myself to writing a daily journal and kept that up for the whole year. I still write something each day even now. In 2003, recognising how much coca-cola I was drinking on a daily basis, I stopped drinking the drink January 1st and in the seventeen years since have had just two Cokes pass my lips (just to remember the taste) and not finished either one of them. Last year I resolved that 2019 would be the year I finished an album I had been working on, and it was. An album I wouldn’t have written had I not resolved two years before to experiment more in my music. Sometimes, with the right resolution, January 1st can be as good a time as any to motivate real change.
Essentially the magic of new year is about the magic of illusion, collectively or individually, and the power of certain illusions or myths to enable us to take back some agency and control of our lives. It is very easy to drift along through daily existence without ever stopping to question or to think about the things we do as routine (well, ok, for people who aren’t philosophers it is easy). Taking that moment out to reassess, to consider alternatives, to kick about new ideas, is something regular life tends not to give us time for because there’s always some new deadline or responsibility that pushes us ever-forward on the path we are already taking. New year forces us to stop and reflect, and as we reflect we may see that all is not well, or that more could be done to bring us happiness or fulfilment.
Such reflection can take place at any time of year, and often does. I became a vegetarian one August over two decades ago and haven’t eaten meat since. I bought my first punk record on a sunny Spring day in the 1990s and forever changed my taste in music. But what new year brings is a collective sense that now is the time to make some decisions. One reinforced by that generally shared narrative of a new year and new beginnings.
As a teacher I see it every September. For teachers and students, September is our first “new year” of the calendar as the new academic year begins. So many students, terrible the previous August, turn over a new leaf and start afresh. A crisp new book. A refreshed attitude. Some brand new stationery. They become new students, better versions of themselves, because this year will be different is the mantra they have spent the summer telling themselves. And, like their January counterparts, there are some who fail swiftly in their resolutions. One bad mark, one difficult lesson, and they are soon back to their old selves. But there are many others who perform a complete turnaround with their September motivation.
Teachers do it too. Better lessons, more interesting activities, getting on top of our marking, achieving a work/life balance. We begin each September with the inspiration to transform and improve on the year before and are encouraged to do so because everyone else - colleagues and students alike - are all on that same page of believing change is possible because it’s September.
That is the magic of new year: the rare collective positivity which tells you that you are not crazy for wanting to change your career, change your temperament, your health or habits once you change your calendar. That you should be encouraged and applauded for such bravery instead of mocked or ridiculed. And sure, sometimes we might fail in our resolutions by January 2nd, or at least by February 1st, but it is not the resolution which is important but the time to reflect and think about our lives. Perhaps the resolution fails, but the idea has still spawned. You may not get healthier by going to the gym every day as you resolved...but you may now at least recognise the need to get healthier. You may go to the gym more than you did. Or take up a sport in March. Or pay attention to your food and eat a bit healthier by May. You might have started the process which, had you not reflected, might never have started at all.
How many of our August, October, April, September decisions that forever change our lives started life as a tiny seed of an idea planted one late December as we looked back on the previous twelve months? We might not have quite got the diagnosis right by January...but that little seed took root. Made us see the world a little differently. Kept gnawing away until a better solution was found.
It really could be any date. What is important is ensuring the time every few months to take a breath and reflect on what you are doing. What you want to do more of? What you need to do less? The only magic of new year is that it seems to be a time the world has largely agreed on in which to do this annual self-audit. And that brings with it the force and motivation of collective momentum. A motivation which could just be the very thing you needed to push you into making the changes you’d, perhaps, be a bit too scared to make were you to embark on them alone.
So rather than see the new year as a hype - a time the fitness industry exploits our festive gluttony - or as just another day, and rather than see it as something it cannot possibly be - a surefire way of changing everything that is wrong with your life - it is time to see new year for what it really is: an opportunity. An opportunity to take stock and consider who you are and what you want out of life. An opportunity to ask yourself those most philosophical of questions and respond to the answers you find with some action. An opportunity to live the examined life.
Author: D.McKee