Having just checked back I discovered that since I started on this blog I have a woeful record when it comes to writing anything at the start of the year! Not a single post (until now) written in January of any year. I don’t think there is any particular reason for that – but it is time I broke the pattern. The other good reason for a post this month is that it completes 12 consecutive months with at least one post.
Considering the previous best was five consecutive months (and that overall I was only averaging slightly less than every other month) that is quite a turn around and, perhaps, indicates that I have finally established this blog as part of “what I do”.
So we have a new year – however, I have not made any resolutions. Then again, it would be a departure from the norm if I did – whilst I mark the event with the customary sending of greetings to friends and watching Only an Excuse and Hogmanay Live on the TV in many respects it really is “just another day”. The fact that changing the calendar is more complicated than usual does not really constitute a “special” day.
It was nice to see the following posted on LinkedIn the other day…
Happy New Year, or for those of you with different traditions, happy arbitrary calendar change 🙂
The idea of it being an “arbitrary calendar change” tickled my fancy!! January 1st is no more of a new year than any other day is.
The older I get the more I realise, I guess, that marking any particular day is less important than the opportunity for a “reason” (or is it an “excuse” in some cases) to do some things that we might be well advised to do more often (or less often………). Online you can find a whimsical calendar of “National Days” which lists several more or less important reasons to celebrate for each day – my first day back at work this year was National Bird Day and National Whipped Cream Day.
Depending on which religion you subscribe to (or not) there are “special” days in the calendar – and, of course, New Year’s day occurs at a quite different time in terms of the Chinese New Year for instance.
I think that I would subscribe to the view that every day is special – every day brings us something new – January 2nd just as much as January 1st. Also – every day poses fresh challenges – things can go wrong any day. If there is an “importance” of Ne’erday it is that it marks the start of another circumference of the big wheel of time – a common marker for all – since for each individual the wheel only completes its turn on their birthday.
So – at this, the start of a “new year”, are there good reasons for writing a meaningful blog post?
What is always important – but is emphasised at this time of year – is the act of “taking stock” of things. A plethora of “review of the year” shows on TV attempt to do this to a certain for quite specific subjects and it is useful for each of us – as individuals – to look around us and determine how things are going.
I want to take just one aspect to talk about here – the importance of understanding differences of scale when determining effect.
In many respects it could be argued that “nothing has changed” in the last year – at the “macro” level that is pretty true – there have been very few ‘significant’ changes over the course of 2015. That is not to say that there have been none, but when looked at with a very wide angle lens, they just do not show up. It is when you start looking at the detail that you see that all is not quite so “stable”.
At work people have left – new people have arrived – I no longer come into contact with some folks – I have made a number of new contacts – so things are continuing in a state of “flux” – but at the macro level the changes are far fewer – or at least are perceived to be fewer. Thing is – when you REALLY think about it – there have been quite “big” changes – its just that none of them seem to have made that much difference.
Elsewhere, it has been a year of “big changes” for quite a few people that I know – changes for the better and changes for the worse – and not a few where big changes have seemingly left them pretty much “in the same place”. I guess that just goes to show that it is futile to worry too much about change before it occurs, since the effects that it has are often highly unpredictable.
When you look more closely, you often find that what seems to have stayed the same has actually changed in all sorts of ways. This is, I guess, particularly true when you put our relationships under a microscope. I don’t expect that there is a single friendship that enters the new year having remained EXACTLY the same for twelve months previously. I certainly cannot think of any of mine that are unaffected by events of 2015.
Most significantly though – and given my firm belief that EVERYTHING that we experience shapes who we are – another twelve month’s worth of experiences have changed each and every one of us. We have all learned much (we have probably also unlearned much – perhaps that is another blog topic) and, in the spirit of this blog – our ignorance has increased. We are no better placed to predict the future – but we have added a new layer of understanding the present.
I hope that this year is another one full of learning opportunities – it would be good to think of 2016 as a year when we became wiser – even though that brings with it yet another expansion of our ignorance.
Prosit Neujahr!