Resolutions if you choose
I had this quote by Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe pinned to the bulletin board at my desk for many years:
“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising to one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
More than 100 years later Nike condensed this sentiment into the slogan: Just do it.
I prefer the long-winded German writer's perspective:
Make a decision Continue on this path Things will fall into place in ways you would have never dreamed, as if watching a Jenga game played in reverse.
A new year. It's here. Humans like to think about themselves and the end of the year is a natural time of self-reflection. These dreary days, with 4:45 p.m. sunsets and barren trees might bring up goals, ideas for atonement or the impulse to buy a Peloton bike.
When we think more than usual, we might even put these thoughts into action, at least until the first flowers of spring.
It seems strange that Jan. 1 is the beginning of the new year. The winter solstice might be a more logical time, as the days begin to get longer. However, there has been so much tinkering with the calendar over time we might as well accept something that works for most people and make the best of it.
Through the magic that is Google, I learned that there were hundreds of years when the new year began Dec. 25 or March
25, according to Britannica, March was the new year until around 700
BCE, when Roman king Numa Pompilius switched it to January. By the time Julius Caesar was in charge, 650 years later, the Romans marched around imposing Roman rules about most things, including the calendar. When Rome fell, many folks chose to go back to calendars that coincided with their religious holidays, Britannica continues. By then, Julius Caesar's calendar was a mess anyway, and the lack of leap years made the year wonky, including the difficulty of figuring out when Easter should take place or seasons that had shifted over hundreds of years.
Pope Gregory the Eighth made a fix with the Gregorian calendar in 1582, including adding those awkward but necessary leap years. Interestingly, not everyone grabbed onto the new calendar. Great Britain and the American colonies didn't follow the majority of the world until 1752. Britannica states that if you were in America in the 1700s, you would have rung in the new year on March 25.
If we're talking about resolutions, I like the idea of having a second chance for making a big decision. If the lofty convictions of Jan. 1 go awry, there's always Chinese New Year in late January or February. We could even opt for this March 25 throwback new year. The point would be, if you're following Goethe's advice, to choose something and begin walking toward your goal. It's the conviction that matters, not the date that you make a decision.
In the meantime, enjoy the mid-winter holiday traditions. Dance. Be merry.