NYE

Some people hate the whole idea of New Year’s Eve.

The overpriced night out. The pressure for it to be sparkling and glamorous. The resolutions that will undoubtedly be abandoned. The diets that will inevitably fail. Cancel the whole thing, some people say. Make it just another day. Just a new calendar on the wall.

I’m tempted to take the cynical view on it, but I just can’t get there. I love New Year’s Eve. There. I said it.

Don’t get me wrong, even setting COVID aside for a moment (and can we please set COVID aside for just a moment?), a NYE night out holds little appeal. There are few things I want to do less than scramble to make restaurant reservations and stress about what to wear and venture out into the freezing cold to eat a bowl of pasta that seems to cost 50% more than it would on any other night.

That’s not what the new year is all about. It’s about promise, and hope, and beauty and reflection.

It’s a walk on freshly fallen snow, and the crunching sound it makes beneath your feet. It’s my daughter’s bright pink cheeks as she slides down an icy slope. It’s the outline of treetops against a bright blue sky. It’s a good book and a cozy blanket. A satisfying meal. Candlelight and a cup of tea. A midnight text to a friend.

It’s also about setting intentions, but not the kind that set you up for failure. Not eat-less-sugar and lose-10-pounds and make-more-money. Those ones don’t often work out because they seem to start with taking stock of everything you’ve been doing wrong so far.

Instead, what do I want the next year to look like, to feel like?

I want it to be light, hopeful, positive, healthy, filled with gratitude. I want to be present, and maybe a little bit braver. I want to try to be better at transforming kind thoughts into kind acts. I don’t want to be so distracted by worry that I miss out on all the beautiful things.

Even these are just signposts, just markers along the way. I will still worry. I will still lose myself in my phone from time to time. I don’t need to get all the way there. If I just inch a little closer to these things in 2022, that will be good enough.

With love and relentless hope. xx