An Emirati Eye: Aida Al Busaidy On The Best New Year’s Resolution You Can Make in 2024
Communications strategist and storyteller Aida Al Busaidy offers some sage advice on how to make, keep and continue your personal pledges well into the New Year
I’m a serial Googler. Yes, I am. I pretty much over-Google every symptom, every question and every name. As I was pondering over what I should focus on for this column, the subject of celebrations came to mind. And whilst festivities for the majority of the world start in December, there seems to be one single day – or a few days – when the whole world comes together to start afresh. Naturally, I was curious to know who started marking New Year’s Day, and where that cliché old mantra, “new year, new me” had first come from.
The internet agreed that the ancient Babylonians should be given credit. It is said that they were probably the first to have started to make New Year’s resolutions around 4,000 years ago and were also the first to hold recorded celebrations as the New Year came around. But their timeline was different; it was time to celebrate when the crops were planted around mid-March.
I won’t go into much detail about who and what then followed, but one thing is for sure, the festivities and promises of resolutions were initially more symbolic and religiously linked – and then somehow they switched to becoming very personal.
Fast forward to a few centuries later and the full phrase “New Year’s resolution” was first used in America, in a Boston newspaper in 1813.
A bit more research shows how our brains interlink timing and significant milestones connected with dates (such as end of the week or beginning of a season) to motivate us to make these ‘promises’ to ourselves. The promises or resolutions are stepping stones to the bigger picture we see for ourselves.
Now, when it comes to resolutions, there seems to be a lot of discussion online about what they truly mean – do people actually follow through on their resolutions? They aren’t written down anywhere, and often we fail to remember that once we make these resolutions in January, December is 12 months away, and with a lot of moving variables from work, to family to kids and friends, some of these resolutions might need adjustment as we make our way through the year.
Let’s be honest, we aren’t reptiles who shed our skin over time, so there’s definitely a newness about resolutions. For us mortals, welcoming a layer of new experiences adds to our personality and incentivises us to reach our goals. Personally, I start my New Year celebrations when I add a new number to my age. So, my advice is rather than go big at the start of the year, commit to being a better you, take it week by week and then your big resolutions get fulfilled at the end of the year.
Happy 2024 everyone.
Photography: Efraim Evidor. Styling: Imogene Legrand. Adia wears: Abaya. Dhs1,865, 1309 Studio, Shoes, Dhs2,410 Malone Souliers, Dress, Aida’s Own. Make-up: Sara Saya. Special thanks to One&Only The Palm.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia January 2024 issue.