The Magic of Being a New Year’s Baby

There is something special about having your life renew on the same day as the calendar. When I was a kid I bemoaned the fact that as a New Year’s baby my birthday (and presents) often blended in with Christmas and definitely with the New Year’s Day celebrations. I often felt forgotten as a kid, but not so as an adult. 

First off, I always have my birthday off from work. Yay! Frankly, if I didn’t I would take it as a vacation day anyway, because I truly believe in celebrating yourself; maybe not the passing of another year, but the fact of yourself. 

Secondly, there are always fireworks on the eve of my birth.  This year they went off for a full hour in my neighborhood and, if I’d had a television, I could have watched a giant ball of colored lights drop on my behalf. Oh, wait, it isn’t for me? Who says?

The best part is that I take New Year’s Day for myself and spend it in contemplation and introspection. I do make New Year’s resolutions and write them down in a brand new journal, purchased especially for the next twelve months. For the past few years, I’ve taken myself to lunch somewhere where I can linger over my lunch and do a kickoff entry in that journal. 

I relish a fresh start and think the world would be better off if everyone in it would do an annual reset. It doesn’t have to be done on first day of the western New Year (but it IS also my birthday, so why not?) but it would do well for a day to be set aside to reflect and redirect. Oh, wait, that is New Year’s Day!

See what I mean? It all comes back to me through my wonderful and fortuitous birthday.  All you New Year’s babies out there join me in wishing the rest of the world a Happy New Year and amongst each other – Happy Birthday (if a little late – I was stuck in the outer ring of thought!)