Now is the time…
A very Happy New Year to all of you.
I’m sitting here with The Daily Stoic open on the Kindle App, and a physical copy of ‘A Year with Rumi’ by my side.
The aim is to create a habit of reading both daily; taking in their wisdom for a better 2025.
That’s not to say 2024 was terrible.
But we do tend to seek improvements in our lives as each day goes by in the quest for evolving ourselves as humans.
So far the Stoics have spoken to me about control and choice, and education as a form of freedom.
Rumi has opted to tell me about a just-finishing candle.
In both, I’ve met the first few steps of creating that habit I want to for 2025.
Of course, it’s that time of the year where you will see a lot of social media influencers telling you to get in shape, set goals and go to the gym.
And it’s probably when James Clear sells more copies of Atomic Habits than any other time of the year.
The New Year is a good time to start something.
We somehow all accept it’s day one, and you can track it well psychologically.
The aim for anyone is to build a habit - a practice of coming back to the ask you set yourself.
To either draw, write, walk, or read.
To fulfil the tickbox exercise of exercising.
And to seek that better life than the day before.
The word ‘habit’ has an interesting etymology.
I know it feels like I say this every week about each word I share with you.
It’s become a habit of telling you how cool tracing back the origins of a word is.
The word stems from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root ‘ghabh-’ (or ghebe-) meaning ‘to give or receive’.
This root also formed all or part of words like ‘debit’, ‘exhibit’ and ‘prohibition’.
From this root, it evolved into the Latin verb ‘habere’, meaning ‘to have, hold, possess’, and its past participle ‘habitus’, which referred to ‘condition, appearance, or dress.
This further evolved into the Old French ‘habit’ or ‘abit’ from the Latin past principle ‘habitus’ meaning ‘clothing’ or ‘conduct’.
This was also adopted into Middle English by the 13th Century.
By around the 14th Century, it evolved itself to mean ‘customary practice’ or ‘usual mode of action’.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with rising up to the stereotype this time of year has embedded in our psyche.
Setting goals is great.
But forming a habit is the more beneficial ask.
We want to get to a place where it becomes second nature to ask Rumi for some wisdom.
Or to take that walk without a second thought.
So, as we step into 2025, what habit(s) are you seeking to form?