It’s New Year’s Day Everyday

Today, January 5, 2021, is the start of a new year. It also marks the end of another year. Tomorrow is the same.

That’s because any day can signify a new year (just ask most Southeast Asian cultures, who celebrate Lunar New Year, or most nonprofit organizations, who have their fiscal year running from July 1-June 30). The reason why most use January 1-December 31 to measure a year is simply because we chose to do so as a culture.

There’s no scientific basis on January 1st being the start of our Earth’s orbit (we could have easily chosen to begin things when we’re closest to the sun or the furthest away, with either the equinox or the solstice). In fact, our Gregorian calendar system was widely adopted mostly because of influence from the Catholic church, who wanted a more accurate way to recognize Easter. Surprisingly, the church hasn’t had the same effort in finding Jesus’ birthday and they simply co-opted winter solstice, hundreds of years after he was born, and used Dec. 25th to commemorate the event.

So what does it mean when any day could represent the end of something old or the start of something new? What happens when any ordinary day could be used to commemorate something extraordinary? It means that you have a choice. Your commitments (read: resolutions), your regrets, your celebrations are of your choosing. It means that when it comes to making an important commitment or taking significant action, today is the best day to do so. It also means that we should take time each day to reflect upon our past year, how we got here, and where we want to go.

You don’t have to wait until January 1, 2022 to begin that process. You can begin today.