Time is personal. Your year changes when your life changes.

Time is personal. Your year changes when your life changes.

By Derek Sivers

A new day begins when I wake up, not at midnight. Midnight means nothing to me. It’s not a turning point. Nothing changes at that moment.

A new year begins when there’s a memorable(ˈmem(ə)rəbəl) change in my life. Not January(ˈjanyo͞oˌerē) 1st. Nothing changes on January 1st.

I can understand using moments like midnight and January 1st as coordinators(kōˈôrdənādər), so cultures and computers can agree on how to reference(ˈref(ə)rəns) time. But shouldn’t our personal markers and celebrations happen at personally meaningful times?

Your year really begins when you move to a new home, start school, quit(kwit) a job, have a big breakup, have a baby, quit a bad habit, start a new project, or whatever else. Those are the real memorable turning points — where one day is very different than the day before. Those are the meaningful markers of time. Those are your real new years.

This isn’t selfish(ˈselfiSH). You know your friends and family well enough to acknowledge these special days for them, too. The day that I most want to celebrate someone’s life has nothing to do with the calendar(ˈkaləndər) day that they were born.

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https://sivers.org/mny