If your resolutions have already collapsed, that’s OK because the beginning of the year is a fiction.
Sure, it’s a fiction we agree to accept. We’re ready for a new year when the calendar goes from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1.
But are we?
At what point will you start putting 2023 on your checks instead of 2022?
That’s assuming you still use checks. But you get point. The calendar says it’s a new year, but our brains might not be ready.
I’m not being defeatist. My resolution is still in effect. It’s 3:41 p.m. on Jan. 1, and I’ve already stretched my muscles multiple times. I’m killing it as I endeavor to become more flexible this year.
However, let’s assume I don’t stretch for the next couple of weeks. It would be silly for me to consider the year a complete loss.
You and I can start and stop things whenever we choose. We don’t have to be confined to specific days.
That’s because December and January are totally made-up concepts. They’re not real in the way trees or rocks are real. They’re not real like oceans and mountains.
Human beings created our calendar. Specifically, the credit goes to the Romans, who also gave us Roman numerals, plumbing, arches, concrete and skirts for men.
I’m joking. I made up the last one. Men have been wearing skirts for eons. The other items were pulled from interestingengineering.com.
But we’re not here to praise the Romans. They did enough of that for themselves.
We’re talking about beginnings and endings. Even if they’re made-up things, our months have momentum behind them. December and January keep happening and happening, so they must be genuine in some ways.
We plan things for Dec. 25, Jan. 1 and every other day of the year. If I agree to meet with a friend on the first day of the year but don’t show up on Jan. 1, I’ll be in the wrong because of long-held custom.
We keep the custom going from year to year even though none of us played any part in creating it.
According to www.timeanddate.com, March was considered the beginning of the Roman year until a rebellion in 154 B.C. The Roman senate made a change, and Jan. 1 became the first day of the year in 153 B.C.
So if your resolutions fall apart in January, you can start again in March. If someone asks why, tell them you like to do things old-school.
But don’t fall into the trap of starting on March 1. According to brittanica.com — shout out to everyone who remembers the Encyclopedia Brittanica from 20th-century book reports — the first of the year has fallen on March 25 and Dec. 25 at different times in history.
In 1752, Great Britain and the American colonies transitioned from one year to the next on March 25. That’s another Brittanica fact, but the website doesn’t explain what it was like to celebrate the first of the year on a new day for the first time.
Wouldn’t that have been weird for a few years? I probably would’ve resisted the change. If you’d thrown a rockin’ New Year’s Eve party on March 24, 1753, I would’ve been right there with you.
And I’m here with you now. Whenever you want to stop something old or start something new, one day’s always as good as the next. Don’t let the Romans get in your way.
