New Year’s Eve seems to be a polarizing event for most people. The most common viewpoint is to celebrate the new year like there’s no tomorrow – which is quite paradoxical since 365 new tomorrows is actually what is being celebrated. Champagne bubbling, people yelling, music bumping; it certainly makes sense to enjoy one of the limited opportunities to recall the year that has gone by and anticipate the one that is to come.
A few, however, have a much different approach to the holiday. Why make resolutions on January 1 when a lifestyle change is available every day of the year? What makes the first day of the year more special than the 33rd or 284th? (The 284th is my birthday, so it really is a little more noteworthy). I saw a Facebook status today that stated the earth is over 14 billion years old – celebrating this new year is like celebrating every time you pee.
My outlook on New Year’s falls in neither of the above categories. I never have been the kind of person to look for an excuse to party until I pass out and hope to never be. Granted, I do like the concept of celebrating the new year, but some of the theatrics are a little overboard. At the same time, I know that there is something significant about the beginning of a new calendar – January 1 is not the same as any other day. Sure, change or reflection can happen at any moment, but moments turn into seconds, then to minutes, to hours. Hours become days, days coagulate into weeks, then months, which are soon years and decades. Life turns into a routine, an algorithm before anyone realizes what is happening. New Year’s is an occasion to interrupt this listless flow of time.
In order to seize this opportunity, 3 basic questions must be asked:
1.)Where am I at right now?
2.)Where was I a year ago? In what have I progressed and regressed?
3.)Where do I want to be a year from now? Where am I going?
This kind of self assessment is an integral part of enigmatically fulfilling life’s limitless potential. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
