“A magic dwells in each beginning,
protecting us,
telling us how to live.”

Hermann Hesse – Steps

A magic dwells in each beginning – what would be better suited for the first post of 2024 than this famous quote taking from Herman Hesses poem „Steps“?

And it’s not only so very adequate as it is the beginning of a new year, but it is the beginning of a new era for me. The last month have been quite busy as me and my husband renovated his old family home and finally moved in December. So please excuse that I have been absent for a while – but now i am back and i am determined to post more frequently again.

Lets call it one of my new years resolution – which brings me to the topic of this post:

A magic dwells in each beginning – About new years resolutions

Ever heard the phrase new year – new me? 

According to driveresearch.com 38% of people make New Years resolutions? That’s more than every third person (for those of you who are too tired of do the maths). The most common resolutions for a new year are: 

• fitness (48%)
• improved finances (38%)
• improved mental health (36%)
• weight loss (34%)
• improved diet (32%)¹

No wonder things like Veganuary or dry January are trending and gym membership figures are peaking at the beginning of a year. 

But why in January? Is it because we usually have loads of time between Christmas and new years eve and can think about what we could do? Things we quite frankly had a whole year to do? Do we realize at the end of the year that we had some ideas that we didn’t follow through on? And well, if we realize at the end of November that we actually had wanted to do a diet but now didn’t loose weight at all, shall we start the diet right now? Nah… with Christmas coming up there is not that much sense doing it NOW. There is a new year coming, we could still do it then, no? And yes – i chose the phrase „could do“ intentionally here. Because we could. But will we really do it? Statistic say that only 9% will keep their resolutions throughout the whole year. 

When i was younger – in me teens to be exactly – i always had the new years resolution to be nicer to people and not to use sarcasm that much anymore. And all the years i have broken this promise somewhen between midnight and half past. (You might not be surprised by this.) And maybe, just maybe i wasn’t fully committed to this at all…

So instead of making half heartedly commitments, wouldn’t it be a good resolution to start with each new idea you have straight away during the year? Without excuses and without waiting for a fixed date, like the first of January?  It seems we somehow believe that this is a magical date that will help us fulfill our goals? 

But well … just like Hesse wrote: a magic dwells in each beginning – maybe we all believe there is magic when the year changes. New beginnings, new chances, new hopes.

Have you set any goals for 2024? Are you within the top 5 of resolutions as stated above? Or something completely different? Whatever it is – i wish you a fantastic start into the new year and hope you will keep on reading my blog.

Oh – and just in case you wondered – obviously you do not have to fear about the new year – new me thing as i plan on being the same person i have been all along, with beautiful thoughts in messed up mind or messed up thoughts in a beautiful find. As usual i let you decide.

All the best and until very soon 

A.