And so Abang did a little bit of reading up and found out that about 4000 years ago, the ancient Babylonians were among the first race to ever be recorded to celebrate new year, except that new year for them only began in March. During the celebration, they will be planting seeds for their farm, and they may also crown a new king. During this celebration, they will also be making offerings to their gods/ deities and it is during this ceremony that they will all vow to repay their debts and return all the things that they may have borrowed in the past year, in the hope of getting into the Gods’/Deities’ good books. This is also practiced many years later in ancient Rome. The only difference is that the celebration of new year is brought forward to January to pay homage to the two-faced God known as Janus, who is believed to inhabit doorways and arches and had his two faces facing the doorways to the past as well as the doorways to the future. The romans back then will conduct sacrifices for Janus and will resolve to be better people so as to appease the Janus, and hopefully gain a better prospect into their future.
In today’s modern context, new year’s resolution is made as part of a secular practice. Most often, resolutions are made to one’s self rather than to the gods or the universe. What Abang found to be most fascinating is the statistics revealed in a study, in which it was stated that while there are about 46% Singaporeans make a list of new year resolutions every year, only 9% said they managed to successfully achieve their goals! But hey, Abang don’t think the abysmal statistic is going to ever stop us from making our list of New Year Resolution!
Abang for one, will continue to at least include three things into Abang’s yearly new year resolution. This year, Abang has the following in the list;
· Abang aims to lose at least 20 kilograms for the year. Not for aesthetic purpose, but more of health reasons. Abang read an article that stated-- men, who are above 40 and whose BMIs are above 30, have very high chance of having heart, liver and kidney related problems. So Abang is hoping to reduce that by reducing Abang’s weight. Abang’s strategy to this is to make regular visits to the gym and finally utilising Abang’s membership to the fullest.
· Abang also aims to buy Abang’s very own house. Yes, Abang still lives with Abang’s parents at the current moment and Abang can totally understand why some people may think that it is not very healthy to continue living under the same roof as your parents. There are a lot of dynamics at play should you continue to live under the same roof as your parents, because as you grow older, your mind set and ideals change, sometimes at a rate that is considered to be way too fast for your parents, causing frictions to build up in your relationship with your parents. Kudos to you if you have been able to live harmoniously with your parents until you are 35. Abang guess, Abang is not as lucky. Abang already did the calculations, so now it is just a matter of taking the plunge. Abang will update here again on the different processes you might have to go through, buying a house under the HDB Single’s scheme. For those who are not in Singapore, HDB refers to Housing Development Board, which is the stat board that looks into housing Singaporeans into affordable public units.
· Abang’s last resolution is to sign up for at least two workshops just to improve Abang’s skills in either Abang’s field of work or a skill that will hopefully improve Abang’s general well-being. Abang is actually very much tempted to sign up for a culinary workshop with At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy. Abang shall sit on this for a bit before deciding on the two workshops for the year.
This year, Abang also puts in extra effort to ensure that Abang’s resolution is do-able and more importantly quantifiable. This is just so that Abang can gauge Abang’s progress through the year and decide if Abang should add more into the list or otherwise. The year already looks set to be challenging with the pandemic showing no signs of chilling at all. So the last thing Abang wants is to be stressed out by unrealistic resolutions that set Abang to feel like a failure in 2022.
On that note, Happy New Year dear readers. Abang hope that you are all set to achieve your dreams and goals this year. Keep on fighting the good fight!
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