Everyone begins their new years differently. Some make resolutions, increasingly more partake in the tradition of pointing out why resolutions don’t work. Some party it up on New Year’s Eve, others keep it low-key and reflect on the year they had. But everyone enters a new year with some sort of expectation, even if that expectation is manifested in ambivalence.
That puts so much pressure on the first week of the year. It feels like a pilot episode, a mold or a barometer for what the other 51 are going to be like. We conjure extra effort to be the archetypes of ourselves in our head, and find comfort in the idea that our missteps from last year were absolved when December ended.
And whether or not you believe that 2018 presents a blank slate, it can’t be denied that the new year is, at the very least, an occasion offered by time itself for us to collectively reposition ourselves. It is a universal placebo, and as placebos go, just because it’s all in your head doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
This week’s cartoon: The Creation by FilmBilder, 2010
Since 2016 I’ve been presenting Cartoons Curated, a newsletter that shares a cartoon on Saturday morning. I’m going to also start sharing my posts here too, but feel free to subscribe!