Article Soundtrack: New Year’s Eve by Mal Blum
If you’re the type of person who gets bummed out on December 26th when you realize that the Christmas magic has come to an end…this article is for you. Allow me to highlight the ever-present merriment of New Year’s Eve that beckons your excitement as you near the end of the holiday season.
New Year’s Eve has a reputation of incessant glamour, noise and drinking yourself silly. This reputation demands an “expectation vs. reality” meme. Expectation: you will strap on a sparkly dress and head off to the party of the year where you will have the time of your life and a magical midnight kiss with a charming stranger, right? Reality: The highlight of your night is the accomplished feeling you get when you sprint from hanging your head in the toilet back to the dancefloor just in time for the stroke of midnight. It’s no wonder that people are seldom left with pleasant feelings and memories as they wake up on January 1st coughing, rubbing their temples, afraid to tally up how much money they wasted at the bar. Inevitably, most of us come to the realization that these flashy New Year’s Eve parties are overpriced and overrated.
New Year’s Eve does deserve to be celebrated, and celebrated well! But in my experience, it is so much more special when you spend it at home or at the home of a loved one’s, with a few of your very favourite people rather than at some wild club or party. Pick up some champagne, wear something cute but comfortable, treat yourself to a lovely meal and dance to a playlist full of your favourite jams. Yes, you will still get cute pictures, you won’t be missing out on anything, and you will feel so much better on that precious first day of a brand new year.
Spent this way, I personally think New Year’s Eve is arguably more special than Christmas itself for one simple reason: gratitude. It swells in your chest as you reflect on another year gone by, full of new people, experiences, and accomplishments. It pumps through your veins as you loosen your grip on what you can now safely call the past. New Year’s Eve forces us to take notice of our lives flying by. We are forced to be present as we countdown the last few moments before the calendars change. We are uniquely drawn together as the whole world prepares for an embrace — not just of one another, but of a blank slate full of possibilities. You’re right to feel New Years Eve sentimentally; with invigoration, excitement, renewal and the appreciation of the life you have left to live. Go be stimulated, go make plans, go resolve to mend things and feel things and try things. I hope you’re eyes get starry while you’re counting down to midnight. I hope you let yourself feel better. I hope nothing knocks it out of you for the rest of winter.
Here is the thing to keep in mind:
There is no shortage of beautiful things you haven’t experienced yet
And it matters,
It matters. Happy New Year!