How to De-Capitalize Your New Year’s

Every January, we’re told this is the moment. The reset. The reinvention. The clean slate.

New Year’s arrives carrying a very specific kind of pressure: be better, do more, fix yourself. If that makes you feel tired before the year has even started, you’re not alone.

At Origami Customs, we believe care should feel supportive, not punishing. So this year, we want to offer a different approach. One that steps away from consumption, guilt, and constant self-improvement, and leans toward self-reflection and care.

New Year’s Wasn’t Always About Reinvention

January 1 as the Western New Year feels inevitable now, but it hasn’t always held the meaning we assign to it. The date traces back to ancient Rome, where it was linked to Janus (where the word January comes from), the god of beginnings and transitions. Janus looked both forward and back, a reminder that change and continuity were once deeply connected.

As Christianity spread through Europe, many leaders rejected January 1 as the start of the year, seeing it as pagan and excessive. In the fourth century, John Chrysostom openly condemned the celebrations of December, criticizing their rowdiness and gift-giving as immoral and unpious. And yet, the fact that church leaders addressed it at all tells us something important: people kept celebrating anyway.

It wasn’t until 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in an attempt to consolidate belief. And January 1 was officially standardized as New Year’s Day. From there, the date spread across Europe and eventually to much of the world, including places without Christian traditions.

In other words, New Year’s isn’t a natural reset point. It’s a constructed one. And that means we can choose how we relate to it.

How Capitalism Hijacked the Calendar

Under late capitalism, New Year’s has become less about marking time and honoring the past, and more about worshipping “the new.” One night, where the past is absolved, everything is declared outdated, and the future is promised in exchange for consumption.

It’s a sacred moment for industries built on planned obsolescence. Fashion, tech, wellness, productivity. Suddenly, what you have isn’t enough. Who you were last year isn’t enough. There’s always something to replace, upgrade, or optimize. This kind of celebration doesn’t invite reflection. It encourages the all-consuming, unhealthy growth that capitalism needs to thrive. 

Each year, inequality widens. The planet is further depleted. Communities carry grief, loss, and exhaustion forward. But New Year’s asks us to forget all that, pop a cork, and believe that buying our way into “better” will fix what’s actually broken.

Why Resolutions So Often Set Us Up to Fail

New Year’s resolutions feel “personal”, but they’re often deeply linked to those capitalist ideals. Lose weight. Exercise more. Eat better. Save money. Be more productive. Be a “better” version of yourself.

Under capitalism, many of these goals actively conflict with one another. Working more to afford healthy food leaves less time to rest or move your body. Hustling to save money increases stress, which makes everything else harder. Do one thing “right,” and another falls apart. When that happens, the blame falls on you. Not the system. Not the impossible conditions. Just you, failing again.

Advertising knows this cycle well. It meets you at the exact moment of vulnerability and offers a solution for purchase. An app. A plan. A product. A fix. And when that doesn’t work, the guilt resets, ready for the next year.

You Are Not a Project

At Origami Customs, we want to be clear about something: you are not a self-improvement project. This matters especially for queer, trans, fat, and disabled people, whose bodies are constantly treated as problems to be solved. New Year’s messaging often doubles down on body-based resolutions that reinforce shame, control, and surveillance.

Your body is not behind. It does not need to be corrected to deserve care. If it carried you through another year, that’s already such a beautiful gift! Thank that beautiful body and mind of yours for all the ways it’s supported you. 

What De-Capitalizing Your New Year Can Look Like

De-capitalizing New Year’s doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means doing things differently.

Here are a few gentle ways to begin:

1. Choose Reflection over Resolution

Instead of asking what you need to fix, ask what sustained you. What mattered? What did you learn about your limits? What are you proud of surviving? Thank all those things for the lessons they taught you and the way they supported your growth.

2. Honor Continuity

You don’t need to start from zero. You are where you are because of all the things that got you here. Decide what you want to carry forward out of the relationships, practices, and truths that already support you. Decide ways that you’ll put more energy into the things that already serve you.

3. Go Collective

Capitalism isolates. Care gathers. Share hopes with friends or set mutual intentions. Not only does sharing with your community create accountability, but it gives you a chance to dream about what you want to build and change together. 

4. Set Anti-Capitalist Intentions

Rather than giving into the Capitalist ideology that your value comes from what you have, what you do, and what you look like, refocus on where your true value lies. Focus on the quiet moments, what brings you true joy, and how you can offer care and love for those around you. Make your intentions about how to bring more true purpose and meaning into your life, not just how to update your facade.

5. Let the Year End Without Tying It Up

Not everything needs closure by January 1. Some things are unfinished because they’re ongoing. Grief doesn’t follow calendars. Healing doesn’t obey countdowns. You’re allowed to carry things with you.

“I Am Enough” Is a Radical Place to Start

You don’t need to reinvent yourself to deserve rest, joy, or belonging. You are not broken. The systems around us are. This year, we’re choosing care over correction. Continuity over erasure. Community over consumption.

We carry hope into this new year not by rushing ahead alone, but by moving forward together in intentional ways that are different from what Capitalism forces on us. When we stay connected, tend what already exists, and care for one another, the future doesn’t feel so distant or fragile.

Thanks For Being Here

As always, we are so eternally grateful that you’re here. We have no idea what the future holds, but we’re hopeful. And we’re so grateful to be moving forward with you. Happy New Year, our dear, dear community.