I've never really understood New Year. I get the idea of reflecting the previous year and making plans for the future but in my experience this is not what happens. For most it seems to be a great excuse for a party and therefore in an attempt to forget everything about the previous year, yet another great excuse to get extremely drunk. It is sad that this is the case as we brits seem to react like that at every possible opportunity.
In one place where I previously worked this is exactly what everyone did everytime someone had a birthday, or started working there, was leaving, or had a baby. It had it's place because it had the positive impact that it felt like friends from work truely were friends as opposed to people you just got on with because you worked together but because of the high turn-over, mainly due to most employees being students, everyone had an excuse to have a party almost every week. When there was no excuse everyone arranged 24 hour drinking sessions starting at 11:00am and finishing the following day. Unfortunately this meant there were a few occasions when people turned up to work still drunk, many people got to know each other a bit too well and all the bickering that most friendships based on drink feature, spilled into the work place and at times made working almost impossible. You'd have thought that someone would have put their foot down but most of the people within management were also involved in this aspect of work life and so was unanable to enforce any sence of authority that they should have had. It was certainly a fun place to work and speaking as someone who has never had an interest in drinking myself into amnesia it also provided regular entertaining stories to discuss and yet never feature in.
My point in this little divulge is this: What makes New Year any different?? Surely the sober point is to reflect on how things went in the previous year and set yourself targets for the following year for you to develop into a better person and hopefully have a good time doing it. However, as I have been noticing in many of the comments my friends have made about New Year, people seem to be writing the previous year off as being awful and then hoping in some vague way that the next year is going to be better. How is the next year going to be better if you do nothing that is different?
Of course New Year tradition states that you should set yourself New Year resolutions but in my experience this is done very half heartedly and the most common resolutions seem to be things like:Do more exercise or Eat less chocolate, both resolutions which everyone knows few people maintain longer than a month, two weeks with proper effort.
So how about taking this seriously and ask yourself this: What is it that your friends like about you? and perhaps more importantly What is it that your friends DON'T like about you? Of course your friends will love you as you are now, after all they've put up with you over the last year but is it possible that they can love you more? Perhaps now is the time to look at the things people don't like about you and work out why you are like that and whether you can change that and make yourself happier. It is certainly a bigger challenge than not having too much chocolate or my favourite one I heard recently, not having anymore children.
For me, self-assessment is something I try to do regularly throughout the year and it means that I can see how things fit together and lead to the following things. So whereas some people who had been through similar things to me last year would just want to throw their year away as being awful, I can look at the tough times and see how they have prepared me for the great things ahead. Personally I am really looking forward to this year as being a year to remember. Not because last year was awful, there were may things about last year that were great, but because this year will be different. A new chapter to add to my life, as is every year.
In one place where I previously worked this is exactly what everyone did everytime someone had a birthday, or started working there, was leaving, or had a baby. It had it's place because it had the positive impact that it felt like friends from work truely were friends as opposed to people you just got on with because you worked together but because of the high turn-over, mainly due to most employees being students, everyone had an excuse to have a party almost every week. When there was no excuse everyone arranged 24 hour drinking sessions starting at 11:00am and finishing the following day. Unfortunately this meant there were a few occasions when people turned up to work still drunk, many people got to know each other a bit too well and all the bickering that most friendships based on drink feature, spilled into the work place and at times made working almost impossible. You'd have thought that someone would have put their foot down but most of the people within management were also involved in this aspect of work life and so was unanable to enforce any sence of authority that they should have had. It was certainly a fun place to work and speaking as someone who has never had an interest in drinking myself into amnesia it also provided regular entertaining stories to discuss and yet never feature in.
My point in this little divulge is this: What makes New Year any different?? Surely the sober point is to reflect on how things went in the previous year and set yourself targets for the following year for you to develop into a better person and hopefully have a good time doing it. However, as I have been noticing in many of the comments my friends have made about New Year, people seem to be writing the previous year off as being awful and then hoping in some vague way that the next year is going to be better. How is the next year going to be better if you do nothing that is different?
Of course New Year tradition states that you should set yourself New Year resolutions but in my experience this is done very half heartedly and the most common resolutions seem to be things like:Do more exercise or Eat less chocolate, both resolutions which everyone knows few people maintain longer than a month, two weeks with proper effort.
So how about taking this seriously and ask yourself this: What is it that your friends like about you? and perhaps more importantly What is it that your friends DON'T like about you? Of course your friends will love you as you are now, after all they've put up with you over the last year but is it possible that they can love you more? Perhaps now is the time to look at the things people don't like about you and work out why you are like that and whether you can change that and make yourself happier. It is certainly a bigger challenge than not having too much chocolate or my favourite one I heard recently, not having anymore children.
For me, self-assessment is something I try to do regularly throughout the year and it means that I can see how things fit together and lead to the following things. So whereas some people who had been through similar things to me last year would just want to throw their year away as being awful, I can look at the tough times and see how they have prepared me for the great things ahead. Personally I am really looking forward to this year as being a year to remember. Not because last year was awful, there were may things about last year that were great, but because this year will be different. A new chapter to add to my life, as is every year.
You have certainly gone into some depth on this topic. First of all...hey! That was a great place to work, and i will have you know that I was involved in some of those all day drinking sessions - and great fun they were too (especially relaxing in a topless bar with a nice drink and a £30 cigar).
ReplyDeleteThe above aside (and my life has moved on since then to a more sensible approach), I also agree that the new year these days is only another excuse for most people to get drunk - which is why i generally avoid new years parties. And with the new year comes the new year resolutions - which as you have quite rightly stipulated - are only half hearted. It does not have to be the new year to try and improve something about yourself. I find myself constantly assesing myself and how i can improve. Don't misunderstand the statement: I'm happy the way i am and with who i am, however, no matter how happy you are with yourself, there is always room for improvement.
IF YOU THINK YOU'RE PERFECT...YOU'RE A LIAR!
Even i'm not perfect, despite my many proclamations of me being as such.
Life is about learning, whether that's educational, about life or about yourself - and with learning comes improvement.
What sort of life would you have if you didn't feel the need to improve some part of your life? What would motivate you through life? What would make you look forward to the following day, week or year? Or more importantly...without trying to improve some part of your life, What would you have to live for?