When it comes to milestones I have a mixed opinion on them, or rather their value. On one hand, they are helpful ways to mark progress and elicit celebration. Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and the turn of a new calendar year. At the same time, I somewhat prefer it when we celebrate because we choose to. In many cases people celebrate because they’re told they should, not because they believe or wish to celebrate of their own volition. On average I do think we all need a bit of both in life – being pushed, as well as making our own decisions. But the reason I’m writing this is because I’ve been reflecting again on New Year’s Eve as it is done in the United States. Side note: in a funny sense, they’re anything but united.
In short, we’ve got a longstanding tradition of celebrating the new year as a sort of “refresh” and chance for new opportunities/improvements/changes. I don’t necessarily think it’s about sensationalism alone, but that does play a part. The last week for me hasn’t been any different than the last month, and that’s common with people. For the turn of the calendar year as well as birthdays, we suddenly go from 2021 to 2022 or from age 32 to 33 in a mere instant. Another side note: aging is more of a spectrum just like other concepts such as gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality.
Mechanically, the actual process takes a full year in both cases. I’ve been slowly inching from age 32 to age 33 for a year, and so in that way my birth “day” contributed the same amount of elapsed time as any other day in the year does. If any of this sounds muddy or pointless, I should indicate that sometimes we just happen to feel poorly during a given milestone. A disappointing birthday, for example. I think that’s why I lean more toward the following idea: Celebrate when it feels natural and/or when you’re ready, not just when the calendar or society says you must. The act of forcing it should be used sparingly, just like with creating works of art.
This past New Year’s Eve/Day, I opted not to make any resolutions. I’ve done so in the past and it worked sometimes, but I just feel more comfortable setting goals as I think of them naturally through the year. If I have to wait for New Year’s Eve to set really important and/or fun goals, I am compelled to question how much I actually want to do those specific things. In reality, people are worried more about needing to be more goal-oriented, rather than actually wanting or needing to work on specific goals they wrote down. Of course, if you need or want to be more goal-oriented that’s totally fine, do it up, just make sure the goals you set are real, rather than just being written to fill a void.
Maybe I’m just feeling too burned by the concept of sensationalism in society these past several years, or society’s embarrassments in general. 45 is a perfect example of abusive sensationalism, and now an unsettlingly large percentage of the USA’s population is on that wavelength of sensation over science/reason. We’ve got new fads/trends that I can’t believe are becoming a thing, such as NFTs. Good people being manipulated into thinking NFTs are the best invention since sliced bread.. I just can’t with any of it. I will always support the right to get excited and have feelings, but holy Hannah some of this stuff is flat-out derentus. I need to write an article on artificial hype, since that concept mucks up almost every industry we have as a species.
Today is January 9th. On this day I have set a few goals for myself – just a few, and I wasn’t worried about making a “complete list.” I think it’s just as valuable for me to write up those goals today as it would’ve been on New Year’s Eve/Day. Probably more valuable since I did it because I wanted to / it felt right, not because I was given instruction. That makes it so much more meaningful, right?