When the year renews itself…

ew Year’s is, hands down, my least favorite holiday. No contest, really. In my experience, with the exception of only one very special year, New Year’s has inevitably proven to be a LARGE disappointment. There seems to be an inescapable need to reflect upon the ending year and to define it by the hallmark experiences and events that took place and made the year what it was. For some reason, though, those defining moments always seem to weigh more heavily on the negative side of the scale than on the positive. Each year, I think, “OK, don’t worry, next year will be better…”. But then… sadly, it’s usually not.

And 2008 proved my worst year yet.

So… one would think that the end of an incalculably yucky year would make one excited to ring in a large-scale-clean-slate-of-a-new-year, but… yet… somehow, the glimmer of optimism becomes quickly extinguished by both internal and external pressures to “change” and “improve” and “rectify” and, you know, lose weight and spend less and finish my dissertation and stuff. And that’s not anxiety-inducing at all. (PFF…)

Oh, and let’s not forget the pressure to have someone to kiss at midnight, because that’s the most fabulous New Year’s component of all. (PFF…)

Ugh.

So anyway… my sincere apologies for the Debbie Downer nature of this pog. It’s just hard to see the lighthouse through the fog lately, you know? 

But that doesn’t mean I don’t wish ALL OF YOU a very happy New Year filled with peace and joy for you and your loved ones. I definitely look forward to reading you all, that’s for d@mn sure.

I leave you with this profound thought/image for the New Year: