I write this on the day of the winter solstice, that darkest day of the year, cursed by many for its lack of life-enriching sunlight.
I’ve never seen the day as a low ebb, though. I see it as the first step in the climb to spring and summer vitality.
Sure, Seasonal Affective Disorder — with the apt acronym of SAD — is a real thing, caused or compounded by long hours of darkness, and yes, there are more dark days to come. I don’t enjoy driving to and from work in the dark any more than anyone else. Like many, I’d like some time to do things outside.
But you know what? There will be more daylight tomorrow than there was today, and that will continue for the next half-year. Things are about to look up.
Please note that I say “more daylight” rather than “longer days.” That’s so some pedant won’t rush to the comments section to proclaim. “All days have 24 hours!”
I think it’s fitting that the new calendar year so closely follows the solstice. Even if months and numbered days and years are artificial constructs, they serve a purpose. For one thing, they make it possible to synchronize human activity.
But the start of a new year is more. Evidenced by New Year’s resolutions, people look at it as a new beginning.
There are the tangible aspects to a new year. There is the literal changing to a new calendar. There are many things that expire as Dec. 31 ends, replaced by new versions that take effect as the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1.
But there’s also an emotional and psychological element to a new year.
Many will pledge new behaviors in the new year. They say they’ll quit smoking or lose weight, or take on something else they see as needing change. They may decide this is the year they’re going to embark on some adventure they’ve always wanted to try.
And it doesn’t matter that most resolutions won’t survive the month of January. People armed with good intentions will make an effort. Good for them.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll tell you I resolved decades ago not to make any more New Year’s resolutions. I’ve kept that one.
Resolutions or no, a new year, whether on the calendar on in the sky, is a good thing. I like that we have holidays at the end of the year. They help us celebrate our survival of another trip around the sun and give us a chance to remember friends and loved ones who did not. They put a period on the last sentence of a story we’ve been writing for 12 months
I think it’s great that Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas are seen as times for families — those with the most intimate bonds — to gather together, and it’s also great that New Year’s Eve is a time when friends — the families we gather as we make our way through life — get together to stay up late and welcome the new year with joy, hope and maybe even a little inebriation.
There’s a place in life for both.
So, take heart during these dark days. Our side of the globe is slowly turning toward the sun. Our days will grow longer, our weather will grow warmer and winter, though the calendar makers say it has just begun, is actually on its way out.
And, while many holidays belong to one or another of the world’s many religious sects, nations or other groups, the solstice and the new year belong to all of us, everywhere. Let’s celebrate them together, each in our own way, with an eye to the brightening skies and the energy that accompanies new beginnings.
There’s much to do.