Why do we feel the need celebrate a new year?

Claudia Corrigan | Opinions and Co-Spread Editor
Photo by Anthony Quintano | Flickr
 

When New Years rolls around every 365 days, I find myself questioning the purpose of its celebration. Sure, it means a marginal increase in the number of years the Gregorian calendar has been practiced, but why do we find ourselves coming together and truly celebrating the coming of this day? Are we honoring our triumphs over the past 52 weeks or are we kicking-off the possibility of a total self-evolution in the coming 12 months? Could it be that we find ourselves unable to let go of our Christmas high and decide it’s spirit must be extending for at least another week? I can’t help but ask myself these questions and inquire why New Years holds such importance across the globe.

As a child, New Years was the one day out of the entire year I was allowed to “pull an all-nighter” (until 12 a.m.), ushering out the old year and welcoming the new. My siblings and I would lie on beanbags and couches watching the Back to the Future Trilogy to pass the time (if we had watched the NYC ball drop, I’m afraid many of us would have conked out – and we still do). If we did find ourselves, by some small miracle, still awake at 11:59 p.m., we would tramp on our porch, barefoot and PJed, banging our pots and pans to let the year know we were there – we had been waiting for it.

While these traditions have remained somewhat steady throughout the years, I can’t help but start to think New Years as a somewhat comical celebration: an excuse to reassure ourselves that there’s a future – there will be more time to develop who we are, right our wrongs and progress as a society. However, I find it hard to understand why we must designate only a single day during the year to analyze our past and use it as a model for future actions.

What becomes increasingly confusing is the way in which people go about setting goals and creating resolutions. With such an elongated span of time in which to set your goals, most people opt for a broader resolution – I will live a healthier lifestyle. I will focus on my happiness. I will become more charitable. – While these are all fine ideas in personal development, their broadness renders them unachievable if further routes to reaching your goal are unspecified.

Personally, I feel as though monthly, even biweekly, goals benefit me more than any New Years resolution. Instead of waiting until Dec. 31 to completely reevaluate my progress, I can check-in with myself once or twice a month. If I find that I have not habitualized turning off the shower head when I shampoo my hair in the span of January, I can extend my focus into February. The point of New Years isn’t to be whimsical and unrealistic with what you can achieve, but instead to give yourself the tools necessary to further develop who you would like to become.