As the New Year Arrives, See Time as a Continuum

Last night, millions around the nation and around the world approached midnight with anticipation. When the clocks struck midnight, many burst into jubilation, shared a kiss with a loved one, and then began the New Year off with a bang.

For many, the ball drop is a celebration of new opportunity and a fresh restart. New Year’s resolutions abound, with many grasping on to the platitude of “new year, new me.” Promises are made with desire and aspiration, along with the intent of becoming better versions of ourselves in the New Year. With each New Year, we endeavor on a seemingly endless quest for growth.

But so often, these promises are broken before a month’s end. The year creeps along and we fall back into our unbroken habits, failing to find a better version of ourselves. We struggle with ourselves and we fail to grow. Soon enough, the next year comes around, and this pattern becomes cyclical.

The ubiquity of this failure is attributable to our romanticization of the New Year. Instead, we should romanticize the New Day. The key to becoming better is approaching each day — rather than each year — as an opportunity to grow. The drop of the ball should not symbolize the time to better ourselves; rather, the rise of the sun each morning should be our time to commit to pushing onward and higher. We should always be working to become greater versions of ourselves. The New Year should not be the deciding factor that compel us into this.

When we fall into the trap of the New Year being our chance to begin with a clean slate, we find safety in knowing that cycle will restart once more. We also allow for our habits to endure because January falls out of the human brain as soon as it passes. The human brain is unable to focus on such a large-scale goal that lacks the finite details for proper execution; for growth, however, proper execution is required. A daily plan allows us to grow and improve. If we approach each day with a small goal that builds towards a larger goal and then develop a plan around this goal, we are able to be extensively more effective in the refinement of our beings. Improvement can only be obtained through decomposition of a larger goal into smaller pieces that allow us to practice, learn from our mistakes, and build upon our foundations. By approaching each day as a continuing chance, we enable our minds to buy into this process.

Seeing time as a continuum is allowing yourself to always improve, no matter the date. It enforces the notion of constant growth and makes it far more plausible and tangible. We should see January 1 as the day after December 31, with our approach to both identical; January 1 should be just as much an opportunity to enhance who we are as December 31. Time will move on, unhindered. No matter the time, we should always be improving ourselves.

This year, even as the turmoil incessantly increases, focus on always improving, regardless of the time. Each day, live with the idea of carpe diem — seize the day.