Image by Steve 1828
What are your thoughts on New Year's? Do you typically celebrate?
Honestly, I don't really have strong feelings either for or against the holiday.
When I was a kid, New Years Eve was fun because my parents went out, which meant I got to eat lots of ice cream and watch R-rated movies unmonitored. I specifically chose "forbidden" movies like Cruel Intentions and American Pie.
To be fair, my parents were pretty permissive in the movies they allowed me to watch (with exceptions like the ones above), but they always watched them with me, which could be a bit awkward—especially during the sex scenes.
As a teenager, my neighbors once paid me $100 to babysit. It was awesome because their kids slept the whole time while I watched their South Park collection. Little did they know, I had no exciting plans that night anyway, so I gladly would have done it for much less!
Even in my partying days, the scene wasn't that appealing. I usually went out because that's what I did every weekend and holiday, but NYE parties usually involved ridiculous entry fees and waiting in the cold (hey, Los Angeles can get cold at night).
But hey, if that's your thing, cool.
Here's something that DOES annoy me when it comes to New Year's itself. I'm all for living intentionally and with purpose, but every "guru" email at this time of year sounds exactly the same: "Let's start the year off right. Make this your year to shine!"
Also (especially recently) I keep seeing some variation of "last year sucked; let's make this year awesome!"
What is this, Groundhog Day? (or I guess Groundhog Year would be more accurate).
I can totally get behind this notion of a fresh start, but fresh starts can occur at any moment, not just once a year. Did you have a crappy morning where you wasted time getting worked up over stupid things?
Don't sweat it. You can wipe the slate clean and start fresh right now.
I understand that rituals can be powerful and help us to make sense of this jumble called life. But let's start creating and celebrating our own rituals—not those dictated to us by some authority.
When we do, the rituals—and life itself—become so much richer and more fun!