Why January is the Worst

Call me Brutus because I’m taking a stab at my yearly goals like they’re Julius Caesar

Jan 27, 2025

I wasn’t a huge “New Years resolution” person until last year. For the first time in my twenty-five years of life I decided to set goals like reading a certain amount, using a paper calendar all year, eating better, etc. I’m not the only human on the planet setting personal goals: it seems like for the first two weeks of every new year everyone gets back in the gym, makes mood boards, and posts on social media. However, by February everyone seems to have forgotten all about their resolutions; gyms empty, mood boards collect dust, and social media posts vanish.

This year as I struggled with my own resolutions, I started to see a shift on the Internet. More and more conversations brought up the fact that New Years is a bad time to start any type of goal, whether it’s for physical exercise or personal development. I started seeing these articles pop up on my Google homepage and become a video essay topic on TikTok. They got me wondering: is January a bad time to start personal goals? Was I duped into starting resolutions at one of the worst times of the year to do them? Why is New Year in January? Why in the world would anyone want to reset the year in the dead of winter? A few Google searches later, and I found the answer: it’s the Romans’ fault.

A Brief History Lesson

Even though the modern western world starts the new calendar in the dead of winter, this was not always the case. Before the 16th century, many cultures celebrated the new year in the spring, usually correlating with the vernal equinox. If you’re not familiar, the vernal equinox is the day in March where the hours in the day equal the hours in the night and signal the start of spring. Ancient cultures used to set many holidays and festivals around the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, so starting your new year with the celestial start of warm weather and the start of farming makes total sense. There are a few regions that still celebrate New Year in March, such as parts of southern India, Bali, and Iran. The Persian and Hindu religious calendars both celebrate the new year in March. Not all cultures dating back to ancient times celebrate in the spring; Rosh Hashanah, a two day holiday celebrating the culmination of God creating the earth, is a Jewish celebration of the new year that takes place in the fall. The Zulu people in Africa mark their new year with a full moon every July. Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Years are all based on their lunar calendars and fall anywhere between January 21st and February 21st.

As for the western world, we have the Romans and Christians to thank for our modern calendar. Celebrating in January was popularized in the early Roman Empire and introduced officially in the Julian calendar, proposed by its namesake Julius Caesar. Politicians would abuse the tropical calendar (based on the Sun’s position in the sky) used before to lengthen or shorten political terms in office. Julius Caesar wanted to put an end to it, so he proposed a new solar calendar that included leap days and named it after himself. The Julian Calendar spread with the growing Roman Empire and held on for more than sixteen hundred years; that is, until it was replaced by a pope. In 1582 Gregory XIII adjusted how leap days worked, and his calendar is the one generally accepted by the western world. (Extra fun fact: Saudi Arabia is the most recent country to adopt the Gregorian calendar - they did in 2016.)

After all that, you’re probably asking yourself: how in the world did January get the honor of starting the new year for most of the globe? Traditionally it is believed that the second ever ruler of Rome, Numa Pompilis, added January and February to the previously held ten month year. He named January after the Roman god Janus who symbolized beginnings, endings, and transitions. The first day of January became the start of the new year after the advent of Christianity; January 1st is eight days after Christmas, making it the traditionally recognized day of Christ’s circumcision in the Temple and a liturgical Feast Day.

See? It’s the Romans and Christians’ fault.

Some More Data

Much of the modern world adopted the Gregorian calendar almost five hundred years ago, and along with it the celebration of New Year’s Day on the first of January. It turns out that I’m not the only person on the planet dissatisfied with this arrangement; there is a plethora of articles on the Internet about it. People cite several reasons for not wanting New Years in January:

While Thanksgiving is always the third Thursday of every November, New Years is always the first, making weekday parties at midnight tough for working adults.
There have been studies that show that January is a bad time for human productivity.
Studies and polls also show that most resolutions and goals are given up on average about nineteen days into January.
The wellness industry preys on people offering deals and plans to magically transform people in their “new” selves.
I have a silly conspiracy theory that the reason Australia lives longer and is generally healthier than the United States is because their New Years falls in the middle of summer.

My Solution

I propose to Gregorian calendar users that we make New Years the first day of March, or the first Friday of every March. I thought about making it the vernal or spring equinox, which is the 20th, but that puts it too close to St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Valentine’s Day is February 14th, so there’s still wiggle room. Think of all the benefits:

We get to welcome the warm weather and fuzzy feelings spring brings.
It will be easier to make and keep resolutions.
Australia won’t steal our gold medals in swimming anymore.

While we’re on the topic, why stop at New Years? I think Thanksgiving and Christmas are way, WAY too close together. Also, Black Friday needs to go. It is insanity to be thankful for what you have, then turn around and punch people for a television at six in the morning. The deals aren’t even worth assaulting anyone for! You know what: Easter changes TOO much. Pick a day in April and stick to it. We should also come up with another holiday in September; Labor Day is so boring! We could have a fall festival, or an official Lord of the Rings Day. Martin Luther King Day, St. Patty’s, Independence Day, and 9/11 can all stay where they are. So can Halloween.

As much as I’d like New Years to land on a balmy day in March, I don’t have any control over when any holidays are, let alone New Years. All I can do is find the time during the year to reevaluate, reassess, and hold myself accountable to positive change whether it's physical, spiritual, or developmental.

Speaking of my 2024 resolutions, I never told you what they were. I suppose you’re just going to have to wait…until next week. In the meantime, hit subscribe; it’s completely free and it puts my writing in front of more eyeballs.

Send to a friend?