Don’t be stressed out by New Year’s this year. Give yourself the gift of extra time. Change your life schedule over to the Lunar New Year, which in 2011 occurs on February 3rd.

Since I started using the lunar year to change years, I have to tell you, it makes life a whole lot easier for me. Try it yourself for a year and see if it doesn’t relax and re-energize some things for you.

We place a lot of psychological energy on significant times, but for me the solemn moment of reviewing the old year and renewing purpose for the new year doesn’t happen during the Christmas holidays.

I don’t have to undergo a period of deep reflection during this turbulent time at all, for me it’s fine to keep barreling through it all, with the extra zest of parties mixed in.

When everybody is thinking they have to stop for holidays and the end of the year – and then have to follow it with the dead of winter and the January depression – I’m just mid-season, still going strong.

I get quality work done during Christmas, what with two four-day weekends back to back, and everybody slacking off. The phone stops ringing, business pressures ease a little.

My goal this holiday season is to get certain projects finished – or else abandoned – by January 2nd, because that’s when I come charging out of the pen, ready to rumble, with a full head of steam and feeling sassy. I never stopped. I just enjoyed the parties and the sacred times and kept the calendar open.

The real new year for me will start in early February, close to Spring, and also close to my birthday as it happens. A time of great renewal and upward energy. That’s when I’ll relax and review the past twelve months, and hitch my hopes to the new world waiting just below the surface of the soil, getting ready to bud and spring forth.

Christmas? Merry Christmas! New Year? Happy New Year! Have a great time, and give yourself an extension of time. Go Lunar! See you in February for the real celebration!