New Year's Day

Of course today isn’t any different than yesterday. Animals, plants, stars, and viruses carry on, reacting to this day like any other. 

But today feels different than yesterday. Why is that? Calendars are a social construct. We could have chosen any day to be the start of a new year. Some cultures have chosen different days. 

So why does today feel different? Well, we’ve already answered that question. Because of a social construct. Our culture says that today marks the new year. So we consider last year. We plan for the coming year. We pause to reflect. 

The insight here is that social constructs are meaningful. Everything that is “just the way it is” got that way because someone, at some point in time, designed it to be that way. The reason today feels different is because someone designed that. 

Take this and use it today. You can make this year different. Many things are out of our control, yes. But many things are also in our control. You can design a different day, you can design a different year, and you can design a different life. 

Good luck this year.