Whether you start your new years on January 1st or celebrate the Chinese lunar new year on January 22nd, new year resolutions are often premeditated and celebrated across many eastern and western cultures. Did you make a resolution?
Rosh Hashanah, for example, is the Jewish new year celebrated in September every year for the upcoming year, over a couple of days. The Chinese new year is celebrated for fifteen days celebrating the year of the Rabbit, symbolizing patience and luck.
A new year’s resolution is setting a goal or goals, which can happen at any time of the year. Rosh Hashanah, which means “head of the year”, was celebrated September 25, 2022 as the new year 5783 according to the Hebrew calendar, and stands for retribution.
Incorporating a resolution at the beginning of a new year gives the idea of a fresh start with a blank slate, similar to those blank cards with nothing yet written. It is your choice to start that fresh, clean blank slate any way that you choose in 2023.
A resolution is defined as being determined to do something or not to do something. the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; a firmness of purpose. A purpose could be simply being a better person while faced with adversity.
Most common new years’ resolutions have to do with getting physically fit, losing weight, and saving money, but some may want to “resolve” issues with family or friends, starting a new year fresh without conflicts. Some vow to take time to spend with family and or friends they have not seen for long periods of time.
A resolution could be a passion for something new, learning something new, or partaking in a new hobby, craft, or career. Perhaps you are a person who does not find your voice when you really need to use it aloud. Making an affirmation of speaking up when you need/want to could be your resolution this year.
Personally, I have never been big on making new years’ resolutions, mostly because I don’t like failing at things. Nobody likes to fail, but we must first try in order to do so. Learning from what we fail at is a large first step in self-improvement. I made an important pact with myself a few months ago to just “move more” as some interests and personal goals led to a more sedentary lifestyle as of late. This was not my new year’s resolution per se, but an internal goal I had that I shared with a couple of close friends, with overall health being the ultimate goal to achieve.
New Years’ Resolutions involve your heart and mind, sprinkling positivity along to others, or in yourself.
A very wise instructor and former Director of the Dental Hygiene Department of Lakeland Community College- Cathy Patterson says often to her students, “go out and spread positivity across the diverse universe”. It is a message she sends off to them at the end of many classroom lectures.
No matter what New Years’ resolution you choose to make for yourself this coming year, make it count. You have a blank slate as you are your own author to write this new chapter as you choose. If you do fail at your new years’ resolution, try again. But know that you tried in the first place, and starting was the first and often hardest step to begin with. Start in February again if you desire. Nobody ever said a resolution had an expiration date.
