What’s new in the New Year?

A few lesser known facts about the New year. 

The tradition of making New Year’s resolutions has been around for thousands of years, and its origins can be traced back to ancient Babylon. The Babylonians celebrated the new year with a 12-day festival called Akitu. During this festival, people would: 
Plant crops.
Pledge allegiance to the reigning king or crown a new king.
Make promises to repay debts in the year ahead.
Return borrowed tools, supplies, and equipment.
Believe that if they fulfilled their promises, the gods would look favorably upon them in the new year.
The first New Year’s celebration dates back 4,000 years. Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, was the first to declare January 1st as a national holiday. He named the month after Janus, the Roman God of doors and gates. Janus had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Caesar felt that a month named after this god would be fitting.

About 1 million people gather in New York City’s Times Square to watch the ball drop. The Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop came about because of a ban on fireworks. The first ball in 1907 was 700 pounds and was lit with 100 25-watt lights. The current ball puts the old one to shame (thanks to technology). Today, it is covered in 2,688 crystals, is lit by 32,000 LED lights, weighs 11,875 pounds and is 12 feet in diameter. Quite a big drop!!! This is telecast around the world. 

Are you one of those people who make a whole long list of New Year Resolutions? I surely was… the first was always 

a) Start my diet

b) Exercise more

c) Detox after a month of festivities 

and so on and so forth…you get my gist?

Well… these resolutions didn’t get past a week and in some cases a few days so one resolved never to make resolutions again but come next year the whole thing would start again!!! So why do we feel the need to make these so called “promises” to ourselves? Is it in the hope that one day we might just follow at least one or is it just because it is a tradition and one feels good whilst making them knowing full well that they will never bear fruition!!! So the moral of the story is… don’t put that pressure on yourself… don’t put yourself in that position where you have regrets for not following things through. Just think of what kind of a person you want to be. Think back to one thing you did in the previous year that you regret. Think of ways you could have acted differently or responded in a slightly manner. Maybe with your words, maybe your tone… just something. Learn from this and move on. Deciding anything else on the first of the year is a recipe for disaster. We all know what our fallibilities are and only we are responsible for our actions so just go for it… don’t burden yourself with impossible goals… just be a better  human being and everything will fall into place!!! 

Happy No New Year Resolution!!!!