New year, new me? New Year: the holiday known as the time for a fresh start, a new mindset, and a new beginning. But, in reality, isn’t it really just another normal day?
We are told that this is the one day that holds space for growth and a chance to start over. Moreover, a clean slate. Who’s to say none of us can do that on any given day? There is so much buildup to the New Year’s, including New Year’s resolutions, mindsets, and goals. If you are in a happy place, there is pressure to change something or to do something different post-New Year. If you are in a bad place, there is pressure to pick up and bring yourself out of it, when realistically it is never that easy. Change is exponential, not linear. To make such a sudden change within yourself all within the span of a night is impossible.
When I think of New Year’s, I think of stress. I feel an immense amount of pressure in order to suddenly change my life for the better. If I don’t feel the need to change, it feels like I’m doing something wrong. Post-New Year’s guilt is real too. If I don’t follow through with my goals for the New Year I feel awful about myself. It then leads to a never-ending cycle that sprouted from starting off the New Year guilty. If I don’t stick to my goals I feel like a failure and discouraged to continue on with them.
It is unreasonable to expect everyone to be ready for change and new beginnings all at the same time. Everyone heals differently, whether that be faster or slower, stronger than weaker, or vice versa. Healing takes time that no one can predict, and if being “healed” in the New Year isn’t in store for you, that is perfectly fine.
New Year’s should be open to all possibilities. Whether it be the year of opportunity, growth, healing, or resting. No one should feel forced to completely restart their life for the better with no regard to all the steps that should build up to that.
Although I totally agree with the fact that New Year’s can be very healthy and motivating to a ton of people, I don’t think it should be glamorized for change as much as it is. Motivation comes within people, and at least in my experience, other people exerting their opinions onto mine can be more discouraging than encouraging.
I stay consistent with the mindset that if the change is in store for me with where I am in life around the time of New Year’s so be it, but if not I know that that is perfectly okay. Life moves on. There’s nothing that special about January 1 as opposed to December 31 if you ask me. They’re both days in my life. I choose whether or not to make the change. I refuse to succumb to others’ opinions about what I need to do for the New Year. Doing what is best for me is most important, and I hope everyone always sticks by that mantra.
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