I’ve always found New Year’s Eve a little strange….
We gather in the heart of winter —
in the darkest, coldest stretch of the year —
and we’re asked to celebrate beginnings.
Fireworks. Noise. Champagne. Declarations.
Resolutions made while the earth itself is resting.
Historically, winter was never a time of promise.
It was a time of endurance.
January and February were the most dangerous months —
when food stores ran low,
when the cold cut deepest,
when people genuinely didn’t know if they would survive until spring.
There was no illusion of “fresh starts” then.
There was only staying alive.
Keeping the fire going.
Waiting.
Winter has always been a season of dormancy, not emergence.
A season of stillness, not momentum.
A season of listening, not launching.
And yet here we are, counting down the seconds as if something must begin the moment the clock strikes midnight.
Spiritually, that has never quite made sense to me.
For me, the true new year arrives in spring —
when the ground softens,
when life stirs again beneath the soil,
when buds appear without being forced.
Spring doesn’t need resolutions.
It simply rises.
The ancient world understood this.
New cycles were marked by the return of light, warmth, and fertility —
by the visible proof that life had endured the dark.
Spring was the real miracle.
Winter was the teacher.
And maybe New Year’s Eve, when seen this way, isn’t about beginning at all.
Maybe it’s about acknowledging what we’ve survived.
About honouring what has ended.
About sitting at the threshold — not rushing through it.
Winter asks us to be honest.
To grieve what didn’t make it.
To release what can no longer be carried.
To rest without apology.
There will be time for becoming.
But first, there is being.
So tonight, instead of asking myself who I want to become,
I ask something gentler:
What can I let go of?
What no longer needs my energy?
What is complete?
Because when spring arrives —
when life truly begins anew —
I want to meet it rested, empty-handed, and ready.
~ Anita Menotti of Her Divine Path
Read about New Years Day 2026: Quiet Beginnings: A New Year Held Gently
