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I'm the type of person who buys their Halloween candy when it first hits the shelves in August, and I start planning my Thanksgiving menu minutes after the last trick-or-treater rings my bell.
When supermarkets switch to holiday music, I don't complain that it's "too soon" for this type of music. Instead, those festive jingles bring me instant joy. I own three pairs of Hanukkah pajamas, and our long-time Christmas tradition of spending the day in Connecticut with friends is one of my favorite days of the year.
But for all the happiness and excitement that most holidays bring me, there is one festive day that I must admit I have always dreaded.
The mere thought of someone asking, “What are you doing on New Year’s Eve?” always gave me anxiety. And seeing the party supplies in the store — the hats, the noisemakers — makes me feel blah. It’s New Year's Eve. I am a New Year's Eve hater, and I'm finally done pretending otherwise.
So many people seem to love NYE. After all, it’s been depicted as the ultimate celebration on TV, in the movies (like when Harry Met Sally) and in every photo ever posted on social media.
NYE is supposed to equal FUN. But for me, it’s a holiday synonymous with pressure. The pressure to have the BEST time with your BEST friends. If you can’t do that, you are already starting the new year off on a negative foot.
For decades, I assumed I needed to keep trying different ways to make NYE a holiday I would embrace. My attempts have included:
- Slumber parties with friends as a teenager
- As a young adult, going to overcrowded bars in the city with absurd cover charges, music so loud you can’t hear your companion and watered-down drinks
- House parties with kids and parents
- Romantic gourmet dinner cooked at home
- House parties with other couples
- Overcrowded fancy restaurants in the suburbs with absurd upcharges and mediocre champagne
Some of these celebrations were fun-ish (specifically the ones when the kids' enthusiasm ignited a bit of enthusiasm in me), and others were downright awful (standing in the freezing cold in New York City, wearing stiletto heels, and having to wait two hours to be let in, even though we had prepaid tickets, was probably the worst).
Most of the time, I found New Year's Eve to be just okay. The reality never lives up to the hype or effort. To start, the holiday doesn’t align with my strengths. I am not a night owl. If I am at a wedding or a regular night out and I am having fun, I can stay up past midnight and have an absolute blast.
But being forced to stay up late is not my idea of a good time. I found that no matter what I did on New Year's Eve, the time between 10 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. seemed to pass extra slowly. Then there is the final countdown from 10 to 0, which is supposed to be building to a crescendo. To me, the big shout of "Happy New Year!" followed by the horn noises was just a colossal firecracker dud.
You hug, you kiss, and then, if you are me, you think, “So now what?” I felt that way, whether it was having to tell my kids, “Ok, that’s it. Time for bed,” or tell friends, “That was fun — but we are calling it a night.” Then you have trouble getting the kids to sleep, or you struggle to fall asleep yourself. What was the point of waking up on the first day of the year feeling cranky and irritable from an admittedly mediocre and unnecessarily late night?
For me, there was no point. I finally realized I didn't have to buy into a holiday I didn’t enjoy. Two years ago, I started a new tradition that works for me. I treat New Year's Eve like a regular day, go to bed by 10 p.m. and greet the New Year seven hours after midnight. The result is that I wake up well rested and excited about the New Year ahead.
I journal, then take an exercise class — the ideal start, as focusing on mental wellness and physical fitness is always at the top of my resolution list. Then I cook a big healthy brunch for myself, my husband and the kids if they are around.
I finally found the right New Year's Eve plan, and that is “no plan” at all.
What do YOU typically do on New Year's Eve? Let us know in the comments below.
