Resolved? To be Resolute? :2024 Resolutions?

At some point or another, if not a regularly recurring pledge from one year to the next, we have committed to one or more New Year's resolutions in our lives.  At one point we actually resolved to be resolute in achieving our resolution/s. Can anyone be more empathic than that?

Apparently, despite the low success rate, a mere 8% according to one research, if we can believe that, most folks still make New Year's resolutions anyhow on a regular basis at the turn of every new year.  But, when asked based on their personal assessments, 45% believed they succeeded.  We can leave the disconnect there because it would be neither here nor there to dispute what is often one of a personal nature.  

Actually, the origin of resolutions was not rooted in personal pledges if we go back to ancient times. And I mean, as ancient as about 4,000 years ago.  Known to be the seat of civilization, according to most historians, was the Mesopotamian region that was where the ancient Babylonians lived.  Their new year did not begin in January as presently celebrated but sometime in the middle of March, approximately the Spring Equinox, when planting of new crops began.

The Babylonian subjects of the empire would renew their allegiance to the reigning monarch or celebrate the crowning of a new king, as the case maybe, to coincide with the Spring Equinox.  The people would also collectively promise to their pagan gods (plural) to pay their debts and return the things they borrowed, followed by a 12-day religious celebration welcoming the new year.  It is believed that that was the forerunner of what we consider today the traditional new year's celebration and resolutions. But why is it January now and not in March as the Babylonians did?

After about twenty centuries, the Babylonian empire long gone, emerged the Roman Empire.  Julius Caesar tampered with the calendar and made January the beginning of the year.  Janus, from which January originated, was one of the pagan gods whose profile had one face looking back and the other looking forward, symbolizing a look at the previous year in preparation for what was ahead in the coming future year. If anything, this tells us the arbitrariness of the calendar.  Why so?

Well, the calendar year, as the ancients fully knew, was one earth revolution around the sun - a circular orbit that those living in the northern hemisphere understood to be divided into four seasons as the earth's tilted axis changes the orientation of the area's exposure to the sun.  The really ancient people of Europe actually believed that the sun  actually disappeared in the winter time and re-appeared in the spring - the celebration of its reappearance - which ushered the beginning of the growing season.  It was natural for people then to believe that the new year would begin in Spring.

The Julian calendar changed all that.  January 1 became the beginning of the New Year.

Technically speaking, because the earth's orbit is a circular one, we may begin the year at any point along the circle.  Imagine earth's orbit as configured on the platter of a turntable.  Individually, each individual's year begins at birth.  After one revolution, a year had elapsed and the individual was a year older.  Now imagine further that the platter on that turn table is now like a revolving giant carousel of the world's entire population. A baby's birth is the equivalent of one individual life hopping onto the carousel; an individual hopping off the carousel signifies one's passing.  That is the circle of life and the passing of another.

Perhaps then, shouldn't the New Year's resolution be a pledge at each individual's birthday.  It does make sense if we are to make our resolutions a personal one.  The question then becomes:  What do we try to resolve in the next 365 days? Furthermore, does that mean then that if one were born on February 29 (there's a number of you out there) he or she only gets to pledge once every four years?  But then ..

How serious should New Year's Resolutions be?  

"My new year's resolutions is to stop procrastinating.  I am not starting until next week though."        --- Anonymous

But this too is a resolution, isn't it?

Exercise more .. or less .. Gym enrollment peaks in January/February each year in the U.S.  

--- Maxine

Sale of exercise equipment reaches a crescendo in December, and then .. the best time to buy them is:

"And though you’re likely to see the deepest discounts in January, deals may well extend or revive in February. About 80% of Americans ditch their New Year’s resolutions by February, so you have potential to buy recent returns that are priced attractively to resell. In addition, more retailers are participating in Presidents’ Day sales events—so fitness gear may be on sale then, too".

--- NY Times "Wirecutter"

I mentioned in an earlier blog that weight gain is primarily a First World concern and a pesky problem for some. Weight loss in extreme cases can become an obsessive burden - mentally and/or physically.  In underprivileged countries, weight gain is a welcome symbol of high status, a visible sign of plenty.  It is a mother's wish for a growing child. 

In the developed countries, at every start of a new year a collective gasp can be heard:

But, to be fair, there is a fine line between being overweight and under-height  😎.  But is it fair that for a creature that swallows its food whole without chewing would be the epitome of "slim and slender" - namely, the snake; while a long distance swimmer that is the blue whale that can swim  between Alaska and Hawaii has little to show for a waistline? 

And there is no truth that there is a talking scale, when strained, will say, "Step on the scale one person at a time, please ".  Or, the one that says, "Surely you knew that a pound cake really weighs more than one pound, didn't ya?

Maxine has another statement:

Where does this leave us?  "No more new year's resolutions!"  You see, even Congress that passes all kinds of resolutions, is never accountable for any of them.

A more appropriate summation, perhaps, is that in the course of a year, "we gain some, we lose some".  We gain more knowledge, maturity, deeper insights, and who cares if we gained the dreaded pound or two?  We gain as in more money saved, or lost as in the devaluation of our savings in one form or another.  We gained a friend or lost one; sadder when we lose a loved one.  

We can plan, we can dream even. We can work towards achieving something new or different.  We can aim.  All of these do not need to be resolutions. They can be in the category of just simply living a life.