The New Year Is a Lie

Arbitrary time markers have no magic powers to change your life

Eileen Wiedbrauk
4 min readJan 2, 2022

If you’re currently full of joyous, resolution-fueled energy spurring you on to do more and new things, if you’re positive that this coming year will be completely different from and better than last year — good for you. Bookmark this article and come back to it later — I don’t want to bring you down. Your positive vibes should be applauded. But for the rest of us — let’s talk brass tacks.

The New Year is a fiction we’ve all bought into. It’s a cultural concept that we celebrate but doesn’t impart change or have any meaningful impact.

Nothing is different between January 1 and December 31.

Except, perhaps, our desires.

Arbitrary starting points mean nothing

Remember, if you will, all the way back to the end of 2020. At the end of our first pandemic year, we were glad to be rid of the dumpster fire of existence the previous 12 months had turned into. Further, we were all certain — absolutely certain — that 2021 would be completely different. It had to be better.

And then it wasn’t.

The pandemic carried on its merry way. The virus mutated. People still got spastic and violent over being asked to mask…

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Eileen Wiedbrauk

Writer. Geek. Coffee addict. Former editor. MFA grad. Odyssey Workshop alum. Library fangirl. Escaped cubicle minion. Home cook. On a mission for better health.