As a Korean boy I grew up watching the Bosingak bell ring as it hit 00:00 on January 1st. It's like the Korean version of the Times Square countdown, the image of this is imprinted on every Korean's mind. Our family would gather in front of the TV and wish the best and happiest next year together.
This changed when we went to America. We weren't watching the live broadcast of the Bosingak bell ringing but we were still together since my dad was usually around in the wintertime even he was spending half of his time in Korea. Then I went to college and I started experiencing new years with friends, and then I got married and started celebrating new years with my wife.
We have a thing we do, and my wife tells me this is Korean Twitter thing (I'm not on Twitter anymore so I wouldn't know): listen to a song with the theme of something you want in the new year. So in December we deliberate on which song that should be, and on one year we picked the song "Better Better" by the Korean boy band-band (as in, they're a boy band but also actually a band that plays instruments) Day6.
Why this song in particular? What we realized is while there are many songs that have good messages, there is always some kind of a catch like a monkey's paw. The chorus would be great but the beginning of the song would be super depressing. Or overall the message would be hopeful but the lyrics would contain something like "even if we go through hell", and call us selfish but we don't want to invite hell onto us! The thing with "Better Better" is that it's sort of universally applicable since anything and everything could be technically "better". And magically since we started listening to this song on January 1st our lives have gotten better, better so maybe we just have a great taste in music. ๐
We used to listen to this song at 00:00 but since I started my Buddhist practices I wake up at 5AM, and it's really difficult to stay up for me past 9PM. So today I woke up and made sure to not listen to any song, even by accident, before my wife woke up. I also had a special mission for today: 540 bows.
2026 would be the last year I participate in the 1000 day practice. Over the past 2 years I've gotten very used to 108 bows and every once in a while it's good to refresh my commitment and also observe myself going through a particularly grueling practice. This is my second time doing 540 bows but overall my fourth time doing extra bows.
I finished 218 bows before 6AM when my dog Billy Jr. woke up. His dementia's been getting worse and worse, so he doesn't really hear me wake up and walk to my room at 5AM anymore. I used to just let him be in my room as I continued with my bows but since he's gotten a lot more anxious with the dementia and all I pause my bows to comfort him a bit so he'll relax in the room. He started napping on my lap again so I gently set him down to continue bowing.
During the completion of 324 bows my wife woke up. She got her phone and I woke up the dogs to form a giant circle in the narrow hall in front of my room and we all sang and danced to Better Better (I say we all but the dogs looked very confused). We were relieved that now we could listen to other things, but also assured once again that this indeed is the best song for January 1st.
I started making breakfast for my wife before she goes to work and when she left home I continued with the rest of the 540 bows. I finished them around 7:30AM, took a quick shower, fed the dogs, and had a very meaningful coaching session at 8AM.
What's a Korean new year without some Ddeokguk, or rice cake soup? I could have sworn I bought two packs of rice cakes and put them in the freezer but for the life of me I couldn't find them so I asked my wife to pick them up from the Korean market on her way home and started preparing the broth. There are important pieces of garnish called jidan made with eggs, and not all Koreans make jidan in a color separated way but I learned properly from Mama Seol to separate them and I always have made it like that.
My wife comes home with the rice cakes, so I wash them in cold water and let them rehydrate in warm water. I prepare the beef so I can put them in my wife's serving, cut up some seaweed, and pull out the kimchi from the fridge. It's lunchtime, and we're having our proper new year's meal.
It's Billy Jr.'s birthday tomorrow, age 14. With his worsening state I don't know how long he'll make it, but he's otherwise very healthy. He has a checkup next week so I'm hoping the doctors confirm that he is otherwise healthy. I'm about to head to dinner for the second serving of ddeokguk and after that I'll roast some sweet potatoes so the dogs can have a nice birthday meal tomorrow morning.
The calendar says a different number now. I'll probably fumble writing checks as I scratch out 25 and correct it to 26. Some things do change with the new year but some things remain the same. Every moment I just look at what I can do, what I want to do, what I have to do and act upon them.
I wish you a happy new year. What does your typical January 1st look like?
Billy Seol
โ
July Life Coach
โjulylifecoach.comโ
โ