The Lunar New Year: What is it?

New Years vs. The Lunar New Year

Everyone loves the New Year. They throw huge New Year’s Eve bashes, making tons of resolutions, and wish for a fresh start. You think to yourself, “this is the year I will make all those changes I’ve been trying to stick to for the last decade.” I’ll be able to throw out last year like it never happened and get a new lease on life. It’s a time filled with hope and shining possibilities.

That is until you get halfway through January and realize you’re really not that different from who you were last year, it’s dark and cold outside, and all you want to do is curl up in a hole until spring. Maybe you could use a good dose of the Lunar New Year instead.

That was me until this year. What made this year different you ask, well for starters 2019 was one of the hardest years of my life, but also one of the most transformative.

I won’t go into all the details of what made it so challenging because it really doesn’t matter. The person I was then, no longer exists. I am looking at life from a different perspective, a much higher perspective and it feels expansive and freeing. In doing so, I am living in my life, not just living my life if that makes sense.

I only made one resolution this year and it was one that if I didn’t stick to, would keep me stuck in a place of non-growth for years to come. That option is no longer acceptable to me, so when I resolved to self-love the heck out of me (by releasing old wounds and patterns) I knew there was no turning back.

Everything Happens for a Reason

It’s a funny thing really, but my wife and I were invited to a New Year’s Eve party. The night before, I took a class, didn’t feel well, but I thought I just needed to sleep it off. In the wee hours of the morning, I woke up and tore through the house, making it to the toilet just in time to leave my regards. I washed up, got back into bed, and slept for a few hours, only to wake up and do it all over again.

This happened throughout the day, every couple of hours, eventually turning to a full-body purge. Needless to say, we did not make it to the party and I brought in 2020, by literally purging 2019, fitting, to say the least.

I woke up on New Year’s Day feeling like a new person. I felt lighter, clearer, sober, and more focused than I’d been the day before. It was metaphorical really.

The thing is, the very next day, I was still sick. I didn’t get well for at least 4 more days after that. In all that time, I was left to think, ponder, my life, and why I was ill. Why did I get ill at that time, what changes was this asking me to make in my life? All I could focus on at that time was myself and that was what I hadn’t been doing for as long as I can remember.

What does this have to do with the Lunar New Year?

Enter the Lunar New Year. What is it you ask? In short, it is the Chinese New Year, which people celebrate on the 2nd new moon after the winter solstice. When is the Lunar New Year? This year it falls on Saturday, January 25. The date changes every year as it coincides with the cycles of the moon.

What does this have to do with resolutions and the new year? Everything!

You see I have come to believe that January 1st doesn’t hold the same value. For one, we’ve just come off of the holidays where we probably ate and drank too much, not to mention spent a good deal of money. It’s dark and cold and all we really want to do is sleep. In conclusion, New Year’s Day may be a good day for setting intentions of what you’d like to see in the year ahead, but it’s probably not the greatest time to hold ourselves accountable. Think, being, and less doing.

On the other hand, new moons, hold great power and transformation for us. Think of it as a time for new beginnings, clarity, and rebirth, everything is fresh and clean. We’ve had time to come down from the holidays and reflect on what it means to live with intention. Work has started back and things are possibly coming up for us that need to be cleared. Spring is around the corner and the days are getting longer, bringing more daylight.

All of that just sounds amazing, like your life is bursting with possibilities. I’m a firm believer you’re more likely to stick to your intentions when they come from a place of love and light, not self-punishment or loathing for all the things you did wrong last year.

My Takeaway

What does this mean for me? I’ve decided that from this year forward I am going to give myself a break and just be, in the days following January 1^st. Listening and reflecting will become my new friends and I will use that time until the Lunar New Year to set my intentions and allow transformation to take place. It seems to me breathing deep and allowing flow is what makes for a good day, story, relationship, etc. So, why not use those weeks as one long inhale and when the new moon arrives, you’ll be ready to take on the world.