Making sense of what we need to heal -- I used to be someone who craved the fresh turning of the page into the shiny new year. Secretly hoping the ball dropping erased whatever I hadn’t figured out about life yet. A blank slate. A fresh page. A new start. All the metaphors.Somewhere in mid-January, I’d look around and realize it was a haunted replica of my exact same life from December. Classic bait and switch.
If we're careful, time will reveal the truth and sincerity of our dreams. I used to use the New Year as my time to reup my dreams, count successes, and flick losers off my long list. I'm old now. I don't have time to even read a long list. I've learned to pare my list more often than that -- once a year ceremony -- and add to it only cautiously. New Years Day has lost it's shine. I'm retired now -- I don't need another day off and the bowl games just don't seem to be what they once were. Even so, I will still take time tomorrow to say "Thank you God, for all your blessings."
I restacked your beautiful wishes for all of us as we look ahead to 2024. Thanks for those!
You asked how we feel about today. New Year’s Eve has long been a night I dread, mostly because of drunk drivers and loud fireworks. I especially hate firecrackers, but even beautiful fireworks pollute the atmosphere and their remnants litter the ground (and water, depending on where they’re launched from). They also frighten animals (and some people, especially veterans, because they sound like gunfire).
I don’t care whether I’m awake at midnight to ring in the new year. I don’t make resolutions. But I am more excited than usual to start a new year, because I have a better sense of what I want to accomplish and specific tasks planned. That’s thanks to Sarah Fay’s wonderful and very detailed planner (download she shared in her 2024 goals workshop for paid subscribers of her Writers at Work Substack).
Maybe I’m also just ready to be done with 2023. It sucked in many ways! But I’m also scared about things that could happen in 2024, and the things that sucked in 2023 aren’t magically going away just because a new year is starting tomorrow.
So I have mixed emotions, but New Year’s Eve and Day are definitely not holidays I celebrate.
Very nice.
If we're careful, time will reveal the truth and sincerity of our dreams. I used to use the New Year as my time to reup my dreams, count successes, and flick losers off my long list. I'm old now. I don't have time to even read a long list. I've learned to pare my list more often than that -- once a year ceremony -- and add to it only cautiously. New Years Day has lost it's shine. I'm retired now -- I don't need another day off and the bowl games just don't seem to be what they once were. Even so, I will still take time tomorrow to say "Thank you God, for all your blessings."
Happy New Year Jenny and family and birthday blessings to your daughter!
I restacked your beautiful wishes for all of us as we look ahead to 2024. Thanks for those!
You asked how we feel about today. New Year’s Eve has long been a night I dread, mostly because of drunk drivers and loud fireworks. I especially hate firecrackers, but even beautiful fireworks pollute the atmosphere and their remnants litter the ground (and water, depending on where they’re launched from). They also frighten animals (and some people, especially veterans, because they sound like gunfire).
I don’t care whether I’m awake at midnight to ring in the new year. I don’t make resolutions. But I am more excited than usual to start a new year, because I have a better sense of what I want to accomplish and specific tasks planned. That’s thanks to Sarah Fay’s wonderful and very detailed planner (download she shared in her 2024 goals workshop for paid subscribers of her Writers at Work Substack).
Maybe I’m also just ready to be done with 2023. It sucked in many ways! But I’m also scared about things that could happen in 2024, and the things that sucked in 2023 aren’t magically going away just because a new year is starting tomorrow.
So I have mixed emotions, but New Year’s Eve and Day are definitely not holidays I celebrate.
Thanks for naming these challenging things. May 2024 bring love very very close.
I am knee deep in chaos at the moment. My obsessive compulsive self doesn't like it but the adult me says, "It is what it is." Wise article, Jenny. 😊
Oh, you are definitely right in the middle of it all. ❤️