Dear New Year, please stop the pressure…

I’m writing this on the actual last day of 2023. It’s early morning, I’m still in bed and I felt like writing (behold the signs of doom).

“Tired, tired with nothing, tired with everything, tired with the world’s weight he had never chosen to bear.”

– F. Scott Fitzgerald

As my Insta Feed Crawl, or Insta Explore Page (it had many names over the years) is showing everyone’s “Highlight Reels” and personal “Best Of” into my face – and yes, I feel both offended and at times violated by all the gaiety and the fact that apparently everyone and their uncle had the best year to date (even tho they did not). To be fair, seeing the great will always trump compared to seeing the not-so-great. But life is just that: often times, just not so great.

The Name of the Game is Pressure

So with the “End of the Year Highlight” pressure along also comes the “New Years Resolution” pressure, because on December 31st, this is the name of the game. But ya know what? I dislike both. Why not make it “a Year in the Life” showing the good and the bad? Why not telling people that New Years Resolutions are famously not held up for longer then 2-3 weeks into the new year and instead of making it a “resolution” rather start on another day and see it as a lasting way to lead a *insert chosen word here* life.

Never ever did I participate in this, for if I want to change something, I see it as an “act now” kinda thing. Anyways, if this is your thing, more power to you.

Debby-Downer is back in Town

I know a new year brings all these great expectations (great book btw. give it a read) and renewed hope, we send out “onto a better year” just like we did the year before. Don’t want to sound like a Debby-Downer, but if we would stop putting this much pressure on the new year, we might enjoy what is to come more and end up less devastated if things don’t go according to plan as much. I mean, why does every single new year have the expectations of billions of people on it’s shoulders – are we all still that naive? The New Year is not a prodigal child getting its Harvard Degree with a perfect grate point average and we are here hoping, praying and not short of demanding it to be the best yet thing that child can ever be.

What I “want” from 2024

That’s a question that opens a can of worms for literally everyone. I can honestly say, that I “want” nothing, but I am working on things – none of it will be gifted to me by the New Years Resolution Fairy (sorry to disappoint there, I know ya’ll still believe in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy but I remain fairly in the mindset that the only true power I believe in is coffee). Put in the work and you shall receive (potential bible quote, do not come for me – I ain’t a bible thumper) it’s that simple and most times it ain’t an instant gratification society either. Good things take time (in case you did not know). They take energy and often times your freaking sanity (in case there is still any left)… but if one works towards something, it will happen one way or the other. But the New Year itself has ZERO to do with that. This is your determination that get’s you places and not a resolution you made at midnight on the 31st of December. So stop scribbling it all over your social media.

Not to sound toooo Star Wars-e

Well, actually, let me Obi-Wan a little bit. The freaking (I’m sure good old Obi-Wan never said that word so allow me some artistic licence, will you?) power is YOU. The power ain’t no one else BUT you. Your power is not tied to a new year starting and it ain’t tied to experiencing failure either. If you fail, go get back up, adjust, learn and try again. You never learn more than with a failure, so failure is not something inherently bad – it’s a lesson and a lesson is always something you can benefit from. So take your power and make something out of it, just do not tie it to the poor little new year. Tie it to your will and compassion and nothing else.

So with that I conclude my first attempt back to blogging (even tho I already published 2 other Blogposts I wrote later than this one). It ain’t a New Year’s resolution (for I have been writing again for about a solid month, I just haven’t put it out “there” – the great unknown) but it is a promise to myself to do something again, I wanted to do for so many years. Once I started, I stopped again blaming first a pandemic, then a negative comment and finally my workload – but in fact, I was the only one to blame for stopping and so, it’s time to start again.

And with that, a big THANK YOU, dear Reader, for your time!