New opportunities to do things differently
It’s that time when we wish each other a Happy New Year. It got me thinking of the three words which make up the phrase, and what each means. Happiness means different things to different people. It iswhat brings us pleasure or contentment. It includes everything from having the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter; to wellbeing, healthy relationships, spiritual growth, professional success, material possessions or wealth. The list is endless.
Each year we set New Year resolutionswhich we hope will make us happy. These resolutions date back over 4000 years, when Babylonians swore an oath to the sitting king or allegiance to a new one. A similar practice was introduced in ancient Rome. Since then, churches have encouraged worshippers to renew their commitments to God at New Year.
Most resolutions today are neither oaths nor religious, instead tending to be a commitment to self, centred on personal or professional development. And we often have mixed results with our resolutions, partly because many of us don’t actually do all that much new in a new year.
For something to be new, it has to be different. It is something we haven’t done or experienced before. Like many Kiwi families, mine was out experiencing our beautiful country over the summer holidays. Iwas reminded of Tourism New Zealand’s campaign: ‘‘Do something new, New Zealand!’’ A domestic tourism marketing initiative, it is also a good call to action in all aspects of our lives.
As many of us head back to work this week, we can ask ourselves what we will do differently, and how we intend to be more creative, innovative and productive. Will we, for example, embrace new ways of working that proved effective during Covid-19 lockdowns, or will we hark back to a preCovid ‘‘normal’’?
Many people look to explore new job opportunities in the new year. We can expect recently returned expat Kiwis, workers displaced as a result of Covid-19 redundancies, older workers, and a new generation of young workers – all with very different skills and experiences – looking to join the workforce. Traditional boxticking approaches to hiring and promotion, which select candidates based on what’sworked in the past, could mean organisations lose out on diversity of thought.
Our concept of a year is tied to the Gregorian calendar – a period of 365 or 366 days, divided into 12 calendar months, or the time required for one revolution of the Earth around the Sun.
Different cultures define the concept of a year differently. For some, it is linked to the changing of the seasons. Matariki and Puangamark the start of the new year within Ma¯ori culture. They indicate the shortest day has passed.
Many Asian cultures follow a lunar year, which they will mark in mid-February this year. While most commonly associated with Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, it’s celebrated across several countries and territories in Asia, including South Korea and Singapore. In Vietnam, Lunar New Year is known as Tet, and in Tibet it’s Losar.
Muslims, too, follow a lunar calendar, and in India different regions have different new year dates depending on whether they follow a lunar or solar calendar.
Traditional box-ticking approaches to hiring and promotion, which select candidates based on what’s worked in the past, could mean organisations lose out on diversity of thought.
New year traditions vary greatly around the world – everything from festivities focused on family, food and fireworks, to specific rituals built around the theme of ‘‘out with the old and in with the new’’, such as new clothes, cleaning homes, or literally throwing out old furniture and appliances.
Ironically, we welcome each new year by doing the same things we have been doing in previous years – 20/20 hindsight is particularly relevant when thinking of the year we’ve just had. There were many lessonswe learnt, and 2021 is a perfect opportunity to apply them.
The choice of food or rituals to mark the new year may differ culture to culture, but a common theme uniting different cultures is the focus on happiness, good luck and good fortune.
It’s a renewal process, leaving behind the ills of the past year and focusing instead onwhat will hopefully be a brighter future. In Denmark, there is a very literal demonstration of this, with people jumping off chairs in unison at midnight, to symbolise a leap over obstacles into the new year, and leaving behind anything bad from the previous year.
In a country as diverse as ours, it isworth taking the time to learn about cultures different from our own. In learning something new and different, we can also appreciate that there is much we have in common and which unites us. Happy New Year!