Happy New Year! I have little doubt most if not all of us are looking forward to a clean slate, a chance for things to get better. 2016 was such a terrible year (I mean, there were some good things like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but that does not outweigh the horrible things) and we are all hoping 2017 will be better. After all, everything changes once the clock strikes midnight. Apart from Cinderella’s carriage turning back into a pumpkin, there is also some sort of magic which makes everyone believe the new year means a new you. It means a fresh start. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

We build up the new year to be something magical, where we can have a fresh start and forget about the past because it’s in the past. We make the new year the one day a year where we can start again and give ourselves a second chance to do all those things we swore and failed to do last year. We really resolve to do those things this year. We make the new year so much greater than it ever will be.

Okay, everyone, it’s time for some real talk. The new year is another day. It is just one day which we have socially constructed to be a day of new beginnings because, for some reason, we need an excuse to do that. Yes, we need an excuse to try to be better people.

New year, new you? Please. You’re still the same old you. Forget about 2016 because 2017 is a new year? Come on. You and the new year, no matter how hard we try to pretend like everything can be different, are still subject to the messes of 2016. None of us have “a clean slate.” It is the same, dirty slate we had last year, just with a 2017 written on it.

Before you get upset about my pessimism, let me finish, okay? You’re the same you and that’s okay because humans are constantly changing, learning, and growing. You are a product of everything you have learned over your entire life. You have been shaped by the problems of 2016 and every year before that. You can never a “new beginning” because history demands to have an impact on the present, whether it is to take a leaf out of the history book or to learn what to not do in the future. You don’t really want to be new. You just want to forget all the bad things that you’ve ever done or that have ever been done to you. But those are what you have learned from.

Not only that, but you do not need a specific day to tell you when to become a better person. You make the choice to change or not to change every day. So go ahead and make your resolutions and sure, try to keep them this year. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with resolutions (except the callous and inevitable breaking of them). Just don’t keep acting like failing the resolution once or twice means you should give up altogether.

Happy New Year!