So, it’s a new year… again. What are your resolutions? Let me guess, most of you probably just pulled out the list from last year and dusted it off because let’s face it nobody ever sticks to their resolutions. Ever took the time to wonder where they first came from?….
Babylonians and New Years Resolutions
Believe it or not, the first New Years Resolution didn’t come from a smoker, an alcoholic or an overweight person, it did in fact come from the ancient Babylonians over 4,000 years ago. They were big into farming back then as you might expect, so their resolution was to return all the farming equipment they’d borrowed from their neighbours. Don’t know about you, but I still can’t remember to return items that I borrow from my neighbours, so the Babylonian’s might have been onto something.
Friends, Roman’s, Countrymen – Bring Me Your New Years Resolutions
It’s no great surprise that the Roman’s got in on the act of making New Years resolutions. You might think they resolved to torture a few more people, bugger a few more slave boys or conquer a few more countries, but in fact for the Roman’s it was all about wealth and accumulating more stock. They would do a count of everything they’d achieved over the last year and resolve to do better in the coming year. Clearly this worked fairly well for them for a number of years…
Chinese New Years Resolutions
Ahh those cheeky Chinese, tricking us with their New Years Resolutions masquerading as house-keeping. Some of you with mothers who are still firmly trapped in the 1950’s nuclear family ideal will be familiar with the “let’s get the house clean for Christmas/New Year/spring” approach to cleaning. For some reason the Chinese also prescribed to this and would make their resolution all about cleaning their house to start the New Year clean and tidy. Makes sense in a way that totally sucks.
New Years Resolutions Today Across the World
So here we are today, in 2011. It’s the first day of the New Year and probably half of us have already broken the resolution we made just a few hours ago. So, why do we do it? Well, psychologically speaking there’s something powerful in a new year and the hope it brings. Generally people make resolutions to be better than they are, to improve themselves and to generally be a happier individual in the coming year. What this says about the kind of slob-fest, lazy, selfish year we’ve just had isn’t great obviously.
So, what are your resolutions? Are you intending to return some farming equipment to the neighbours, planning to improve stock, or happy with cleaning your house? I know I haven’t made any this year because let’s face it, if I want to do something I can do it in April just as well as I can do it in January (well other than buy Santa chocolates which aren’t big in April). So, come on, let’s hear yours…… what are you changing this year?