Happy New Year - But Don't Let the Romans Boss You Around
Wishing you a healthy, restful, rejuvenating new year
Happy New Year, dearest Substackers.
The history around the first day of the year as we know it has a variety of supposed sources. We know the concept of January was invented around 713 BC by the Roman King Numa. The start of the year was originally observed as March in the Roman calendar. King Numa added January and February.
Calendars differed all over the world until Pope Gregory’s was formally adopted. So really, Pope Gregory and Romans decided January 1 was the beginning of the year.
The earliest new year was recorded around 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. “Called akitu, the festival, which could last for up to 12 days, started on the day of the first new moon after the spring equinox—the day when sunlight and darkness are equally long. It usually fell around March.”
I look around and nature seems to accept Spring as the new year too.
All this to say, if you don’t feel like making wide-sweeping changes about your entire life in the dead of winter - that’s okay by me.
Personally, I don’t let the Romans or some Pope boss me around when it comes life changes. For me, I let my growth happen in the Spring.
I support going slow with intention and reflection and give your body patience.
That said, if you’d been pounding spiked egg nog or chocolate covered gingerbread, maybe give your body a break in January as we all get back to work… but if you have a long list of personal resolutions, sometimes it’s better to focus and start integrating changes with grace instead of pounding ourselves into change-submission.
And while we’re all works-in-progress, don’t forget that most likely you are enough.
Wishing you a happy, healthy new year! Join me in scheduling in a long winter’s nap!
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Welcome to my disease. What is atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) or Complement-Mediated Thrombotic Microangiopathy (CM-TMA)?
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