Ask the Right Questions

A Most Meaningful Year

First, declare September 1 the Start of a “New Year”

“What do you need to do by the end of the year to make this year meaningful?” is the wrong question. I’d rephrase it: “Is there anything about this year that lacks meaning?” The answer, for me, is “no.” But if you ask me, “What do you need to do by the end of the year in order to achieve the goals you set out to accomplish before 2023?” then the answer might be, “A long list of things.”

So, I recently declared September 1 to be the start of a new year. Technically, every day — every hour or minute or second of every day — is just that: an ending and a beginning. Dates are arbitrary, but all writers know the value of a deadline. The problem is, many of us are good at meeting external deadlines but fall flat on our faces when we try to set our own.

I suppose I’m working on my honorary membership in the Tribe — if I convert to Judaism, the new year, Rosh Hashanah, would officially start on September 25, at sunset.

That said, I’ve been celebrating “new years” roughly quarterly for a while now. That works better than waiting 12 months to check in on the progress I’m making towards my goals:

• January 1 — traditional New Year’s Day throughout most of the world
• Nowruz (the exact moment of the vernal equinox) — aka, Persian New Year, as well as corresponding to my son’s birth (they only match up officially on leap years)
• Summer Solstice — which also corresponds, loosely, to my wedding anniversary and the start of my “new life” as a married woman; it may also correspond, loosely, to my own beginnings — we share an anniversary with my parents, and I would have been born closer to Nowruz, had I not hastened things by a couple of weeks.
• Rosh Hashanah — Jewish New Year (also fits nicely with the equinox and solstice thing and roughly rounds out the four quarterly “new years”)

I am still working towards the goal of being a more disciplined and productive writer, focusing on the three P’s: poetry, patience, and publication. Goals met make room for new goals to achieve. But this year is already meaningful, whether I do anything or not.

Holly Jahangiri is the author of Trockle ; A Puppy, Not a Guppy; and A New Leaf for Lyle. She draws inspiration from her family, from her own childhood adventures (some of which only happened in her overactive imagination), and from readers both young and young at heart. Visit her website at jahangiri.us and subscribe to her newsletter at https://hollyjahangiri.substack.com/