You understand that this whole business of time is fake and just something we made up to explain the appearance of gray hair and why we don’t have summer all year round, right? So when we celebrate the “new year”, let’s agree there’s nothing actually new about it.
It’s not as if when January1st rolls around our sins are forgiven and we have no debts or dirt under our fingernails. In fact, it’s generally the opposite. Many people wake up on New Year’s Day feeling as bad as they are going to feel for the rest of the year, with a throbbing headache and a vague memory of humiliating things they did the night before. Or worse yet, with memories of having done nothing humiliating or fun the night before.
So, even if New Year’s Day isn’t actually new, it’s an excuse to reflect and repent and review the previous year’s resolutions. How about those ten pounds you vowed to lose last year? Did they follow you into the new year? You promised to get “more organized” last January. How’d that work out for you? And where did you park the car last night? If only you could find your phone this morning. Did you really call your ex and leave ten messages?
The idea is that the next year is going to be better than the last year that somehow failed to live up to your expectations. It’s like pouring over those seed catalogs that arrive in the middle of winter with photos of perfect tomatoes and lettuce with no weeds. You think, this could be my garden.
Celebrating New Year’s Day is a celebration of hope and optimism. It is believing that doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results is really not, as Einstein said, the definition of insanity. I have a theory of finding lost items. If I can’t find my keys, for example, I will make a systematic search of the house. But I am not discouraged if I don’t find them the first time because I know when I go back and look over those same exact places again, my keys will magically appear. I can’t explain it. But this mysterious principle is what gives me hope for the future. This year, I will exercise every day. I will learn Spanish. I will kayak on the Mississippi. I know I said that last year. But this year will be different because of the power of pure, dumb optimism.
New Year’s Day is more than the day to recover from a hangover or watch football and eat Christmas leftovers. It is a baptism, a rebirth. It is the day to forgive yourself for the sin of being who you are. It is the day to celebrate human frailty. On New Year’s Day, we get to take a good look in the mirror and say, well… it appears all that hard work has paid off!