Why I’ve decided not to make new years resolutions until spring?

Have you ever wondered why in the heart of winter, we feel the need to make resolutions?

In all my reading and reflection on living in rhythm with seasons, winter seems like a season that invites us into rest and preparation. So why do we expect ourselves to begin new things in a season of rest?

Is it simply because the calendar tells us it’s a new year and therefore we must “restart?”

As someone who enjoys history, I decided to do some research to better understand the thought process around new years resolutions and was fascinated by what I found. It seems our celebration of a new year in winter, along with creating new year’s resolutions, started in ancient Rome when emperor Julius Ceaser messed around with the calendar. He decided that January 1 should mark the beginning of a new year. In an article on history.com, I learned that “January had special significance for the Romans. Believing that Janus (a God) symbolically looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future, the Romans offered sacrifices to the deity and made promises of good conduct for the coming year.”

Later, the early church adopted this practice of recognizing January as the new year, taking it as an opportunity to reflect on past mistakes and resolve to do better in the future. Today, new year’s resolutions are mostly made for the betterment of self and considered secular. However, some churches still practice a tradition begun in 1740 by John Wesley to hold new year’s eve services for prayer and to make new year’s resolutions.

While the Romans established January as the new year back in 46 BC, they were not the first to have a tradition of celebrating a new year with new resolutions. In fact, the ancient Babylonians over 4000 years ago are believed to be the first to establish a tradition of new years resolutions. However, the Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year in mid-March, corresponding with planting crops in spring.

Perhaps, the Babylonians understood something about nature and living in seasons? As I read and reflect on what it might look like to live in rhythm with nature’s seasons, winter feels like a season for rest and preparation. Spring feels like a season for new beginnings, new growth, and starting new things?

Might we be better served by easing our way into the new year, allowing winter to serve as a time of rest and restoration, a time of preparation for new growth in spring?

When considering rest, many might assume it to be passive, even lazy. Yet, winter rest is not a passive nor lazy rest. Rest looks different for everyone, depending on personality, life season, and so many other variables. Some find rest in physical activities like running, whereas others find rest when they are allowed to get lost in the pages of a good story. Personally, given the time and solitude, I find the cleaning out of excess clutter in my home to be very restful. Yet, I have friends that even the idea of tacking a cleaning project exhausts them.

Winter feels like a season that draws us inward, inviting us to rest. But to truly rest, we must consider what is actually restful.

What refuels MY body?

What refuels MY mind?

What refuels MY spiritual life?

Accepting the invitation of winter to be a season of rest sounds wonderful. Yet, you might find yourself asking, how in our modern world of fast-food and instant pots, where activities and obligations demand, even in winter, do we begin to find rest and live in rhythm with winter?

While everyone’s circumstances and life stages will factor into what a rhythm of rest might look like, here are some ways we might approach the winter season, allowing ourselves space for rest and preparation.

Pause before saying yes to anything new in this season. While we must continue to adult and be responsible for what we are already committed to, we do not have to start a new year by adding more to our list of responsibilities, tasks, or activities.

Schedule time to evaluate and reflect on regular habits, routines, and activities already in place. Ask questions such as, what is life-giving, and what is life-draining? What things do I carry that are not mine to carry in this season? What things do I need to create space for on my calendar?

Take time to consider what is most important for this season, this year? Do I have any specific goals or projects I would like to achieve? Then ask, how might my days be scheduled to achieve goals while making room for what matters most?

Consider what rhythms or practices are restful for you personally, and then ask, how might they fit into my current season of life?

According to my season of life, goals, and priorities, what must I release to make room for new growth? What must I let go of to make room for new growth? What rhythms will help me refuel and renew for spring?

Perhaps you are reading this already prepared and ready to take on your new year’s resolutions, that is awesome, and I am cheering for you. Or, perhaps, like me, you feel overwhelmed by the addition of anything extra and have yet even to decide if you want to set any new goals for this year. Regardless of where you find yourself, let’s accept the invitation of winter to move slowly into the new year, allowing ourselves time for reflection, establishing rhythms of rest, and preparing for new growth come spring.