New year, new semester, new goals

This archived article was written by: Kaina Elias

“A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced.”
This description comes from Wikipedia and summarizes what a holiday is supposed to be. The reasons why a specific day is set aside from the others vary from tradition of culture to religious meanings. Theoretically, holidays are made to celebrate or commemorate something rather than get an extra day off in the week. However, from my experience several people only enjoy the day off rather than think over or meditate upon the meaning of that day.
For people who celebrate Christmas, for instance, the meaning is mostly religious. Children surely will be more connected with Santa Claus, gifts and food, but depending on what one believes, Christmas is a very, if not the most important day for one’s beliefs.
For those that do not celebrate Christmas, one still has to deal with changes in decoration, songs on the radio, programs on TV, etc, that comes along with Christmas. As much as it may not have the meaning of something one celebrates, Christmas is still a day where people get together to have a good time. Religious or not, everyone likes to gather around a table full of good food in a warm room surrounded by loved ones. Since it is so close to the end of the year, it marks it as well.
Then there is the New Year’s celebration, a time for renovation and reflection, most say. A time to look back and see everything you accomplished this past year and write down new goals for the year that is to come. Celebrated in the entire world, only at different times, the New Year’s holiday is the one that I personally enjoy the most. Not because of the celebration, parties, laughs and everything around it, but for its meaning.
Some people do not consider it a big deal. It is one day after another, after all. However, for someone that likes to set new goals every year, this specific holiday marks the end of a cycle. It is time to see the failures and successes that one accomplished and learn from one’s mistakes so that those do not happen again. Maybe not all goals were accomplished. Maybe there is something one did not do well or simply did not do at all. It is okay. As I always do, new goals will be written down (actually write them down on a piece of a paper). Three hundred and sixty five days might be enough to accomplish those goals one failed to make the past year. Think long term. Be patient and work hard.