Happy New Year!
Is it too far into the year to still be saying that? When should the cutoff date for that be? (Jerry and Elaine certainly have some opinions on that.) For me, any time within the first few weeks of January is fine, assuming it’s the first time I’m seeing someone that year. If we’ve already seen each other and chatted multiple times during the first week or two of the month and then in the third week you’re wishing me a happy new year – that would be very strange.
As we all know, during the first couple days of the new year, everyone (well, mostly “news” shows – Today Show, I’m looking at you) love discussing New Year’s Resolutions. Do you make them? Do you think they’re a good idea? Are they dumb? Why do they always seem to revolve around losing weight, drinking less, quitting smoking, and exercising more? Because they’re popular vices and vices are the only escape we have in this endless monotonous life!!!
Sorry, that got dramatic.
Personally, I kind of enjoy the fresh start that a new year offers. Once you graduate from school and begin working, your life is no longer divided into semesters and breaks. Though, I suppose, if you have kids, you’ll be kind of forced back into that semester scheduling. But for those of us who remain child-free (I prefer “child-free” over “childless”), life can start to feel like one endless mass of time (here I go again with the melodrama). Weeks bleed into months and months into years.
In the last few years, I’ve found myself wondering “did [event] happen last year or 4 years ago?” I can often tell you if it was spring or fall when an event occurred, but the years (start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’) really blur. And I’m only 36! For events in my 20’s I’m able to think “ok, what apartment was I living in at the time?” Or “what company did I work for?” But now, I’ve been in the same apartment for 8 years and at the same job for nearly 7. Then things got dark and I had to start using Trump being elected in 2016 and the pandemic beginning in 2020 as markers.
But if I take some intentional pauses periodically throughout the year to reflect and plan for the future, perhaps I can slow down this train and be a little more intentional with where my life is going and what I’m doing with it.
Maybe this seems indulgent to you, but what else did you have planned? Scrolling on your phone?
I also recently learned about what the Japanese call Osouji, “a deep cleaning of one's household that is highly believed to cleanse the home and purify the residence in order to welcome ‘Toshigami,’ the kami (Shinto deity) of the New Year”.
Regardless of your religious beliefs, it’s a good time to do a deep clean of the kitchen. Clean your cabinet and refrigerator shelves, the inside of your trash can, and the crusties out of your microwave (an important task that I learned the hard way recently when one of those crusties randomly lit on fire and burned a hole in the plastic of my microwave, requiring me to buy another one – the 4th in 8 years. Why are appliances so shoddy these days? That’s an issue for another…issue.)
Clean your desk at work. Sanitize your keyboard and mouse. When’s the last time you washed that sweater you keep at work? Or that reusable cup with the straw? (To clean the inside of the straw, I recommend buying one of these little cleaners. The inside of that straw is dirtier than you think… tonight on the news at 11!)
It's also a good time to get your knives professionally sharpened. I have a neighborhood kitchen supply store that does it for about $7 a pop, but I think I’ve heard some Whole Foods stores offer the service too.
Open your closet door and have an honest moment with yourself – how many of these items of clothing do you actually wear? Anything that you rarely or never wear, toss it in a big pile on the floor. Any items that you can’t decide on, try them on rapid fire and be impulsive. Does it bring you joy? No? TOSS IT. Are you saving it for a time when you weigh less and it’ll fit better? TOSS IT. Gather up everything in the pile, shove it in a trash bag, and schlep on down to your local Goodwill/Salvation Army/whoever is willing to take it. Do all of this in the same day or that bag of clothing will sit by your door or in your trunk for months.
Buy some new athletic shoes. I never realize how badly I need a new pair until I buy the new pair and feel like I’m walking on a cloud!
Go on a social media purge. Unfollow or mute people and groups as needed. Sometimes it was worthwhile to be in a support group 5 years ago, but maybe now being in that support group is even holding you back from growing? Something to ponder.
If you’re planning on making more traditional new year’s resolutions, I encourage you to keep them small and focus more on the tasks you need to accomplish to achieve the goal, rather than the goal itself. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Instead of going from taking zero steps per day to running 5 miles every day, maybe just commit to walking 2 miles per day. Consistency is key! (Or so I hear.) You aren’t going to transform into a different person overnight; you won’t wake up tomorrow looking like Margot Robbie or Jeremy Allen White [*mind drifts off briefly…*]
Anyway, good luck with all your cleaning and resolving and reflecting. New year, new you! (Although, for many, the old you was just fine.)
Happy New Year. (Oh wait, I already said that to you. Awkward.)
Here’s an upbeat playlist to help energize you (because god knows we can all use that, am I right?)