The 'New Year' - Proceed With Confusion

I do not like New Year.  I have a long standing aversion based on a multitude of factors, not least an overwhelming sense of restlessness if I have nothing planned.  The 2013/2014 schism was slightly less painful.  I remained at home and acknowledged something was going on, whilst I played catch up with various programmes I had been meaning to watch for some time.  Don't get me wrong, I have had some good New Year's celebrations out with friends but I have also had some that still bring tears to my eyes (acting as a mediator in a nightclub between two friends as their relationship shattered before my eyes, whilst my body desperately needed to use the loo owing to a stomach bug of some description, that immediately springs to my mind).

My chief objection to the conceit that is 'New Year' is the simple fact that it is not a new beginning.  It is a continuation, so the idea of celebrating the demise of the previous year as a new one begins is quite frankly, rubbish.  Let's view this rationally, calendars and time devices are means through which the human race chooses to impose order on nature and a universe it simply does not understand.  In reality, time continues, things move, change occurs.  Humanity's arrogance cannot dispel the realities of mortality.  Now to complicate things further, different cultures use different calendars.  As such, the arbitrary date that the 'New Year' begins can occur at any point in the year.

Now from my rather cynical perspective, I remain somewhat confused by the almost apocalyptic tension that surrounds New Year's Eve.  If we think back to 1999, the naysayers and scientists alike were imagining how at the stroke of Midnight of the year 2000, the world would essentially descend into chaos, falling planes and computers so confused by numerical change that nothing would ever be the same again.  Nothing happened.  Historically, there has always been a set of feelings and traits connected with any culture at the 'end of a century'.  The French refer to the  'fin-de-siècle' and the manifestations of the moods and aspirations of a culture can be most readily seen in the creative mediums such as books, the theatre, music, film etc.  I would be tempted to argue that the same feelings kick in at the apparent end of every year.  For some reason, New Year's Eve becomes a time for reflection.  If the year has been fulfilling, the date is resonant with passionate feelings of optimism.  If things have been bad, it becomes a tawdry, awful moment where attempts are made to force everything horrible back into cupboards and boxes.  Chucking out the skeletons in the desperate hope that the 'New Year' will help to provide some kind of coherent meaning for the suffering.

Whilst I was out and about on New Year's Eve during the day, I thought about many things including the concept of 'New Year Resolutions'.  The idea of creating little goals for yourself at any point should be commended, if only to remind yourself that you live and achieve.  In the past, I have half-heartedly created 'New Year Resolutions' such as 'Be happier' etc.  Yesterday, I read a sign which read 'Proceed with Caution'.  It was a plaque on the side of a wall.  I considered that this may make a good point of demarcation in the next stage of my life.  Then a more powerful phrase sprang to mind that could be far more liberating and interesting:

Proceed With Confusion


What does everyone thing about the prospect of proceeding with confusion?  What are your resolutions?

Barry Watt - Wednesday 1st January 2014.

Afterword  

For a good introduction to the concept of 'fin-de-siècle', please see Wikipedia.  This article is copyright to the Wikipedia Foundation Inc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin_de_si%C3%A8cle

                                                                                                                    BW