circular logic (the good kind)

Well, last week was a week, wasn't it?

In my neck of the woods, we had a Monday holiday.

Then two snow days.

Then, finally, a day of school!

...and then another snow day. 

We only had a few flurries last year, so these snows that dropped enough for sledding--and canceled school!--were a BIG DEAL for the kids.

I spent most of last week not getting any work done.

And also freezing my butt off with the other moms at the top of the (very awesome) sledding hill in our neighborhood.

All in all, though, it was a fun week.

I wasn't stressed about not getting work done.

Or lamenting I'd bailed on my New Year's resolutions on Quitter's Day.

In case you didn't know, Quitter's Day (the second Friday in January) is the day most of us give up on our resolutions.

We sorta pack them away with the holiday decorations and there they stay.

That is until we pull them out again at the end of the year.

And beat ourselves up for not achieving our goals...and we resolve to do better.

Which makes for a disappointing holiday tradition...and really, do any of us need MORE pressure at the end of the year?

Anyway, I don't do that anymore.

And not just because I don't make January resolutions.

I just look at a year differently now.

What changed my thinking was this calendar:

I got it for my son a few years ago. If you can't see the image, its a poster-sized calendar where instead of traditional square months/days, each day is a 1/365th of a big circle.

It's supposed to help kids get a better sense of how a year works and how far apart days are.

My son seemed to like it okay enough.

I thought it was VERY cool.

Not because it's ideal for tracking appointments and guitar lessons, because it definitely is not.

But it reminded me of something important that I knew, but usually ignored.

A year, like a circle, doesn't have a defined starting or ending point.

Yes, a year is the time it takes the Earth to go around the Sun. That's a fact. 

That a year "starts" in January? That's a cultural construct.

Which means today, January 23rd --or whatever day you read this--you can think "my goal a year from now is [fill in the blank]" and you can start.

It doesn't matter if your year doesn't fall on the "right" days of the calendar.

Of course, you'll still need to follow the cultural calendar construct for a lot of things in life. You can't be like "on my calendar tax day is July 7th." (Sorry!)

But for your personal goals? Make your year your own.

You don't even have to start all of your goals/resolutions at the same time of the year!

So my "personal goals" year doesn't start in January. It's too disruptive (hello week of snow days).

Mine starts in Spring, which feels like a natural, new-beginnings time. For me that's late March.

Maybe you agree with a Spring start, but you're in the southern hemisphere so it's September for you.

Maybe you feel more energized to start something new in the summer.

The beauty of thinking of a year as a circle, is that it doesn't matter.

There isn't a "right" time to start an annual goal.

We get to choose the time that works for us.

What time works best for you?

Continuing my mosey into the new year,

Kristen

PS: The circular calendar that inspired me to rethink a year is by Tiny Shiny Schoolhouse, if you want to check it out!

I'm not an affiliate, just a fan of the circular visual. :)