The new year is coming. This is a time when friends get together to celebrate and party, but not this year.
This year, all new year’s parties and celebrations are canceled and people face stiff fines from their governments if they break the law of social distancing. In Canada, if you organize an illegal new year’s party you could be fined up to $10,000.
Since many of you will be spending the new year alone, here are a few ideas on how to still enjoy the coming of the new year.
Make a Plan
Somehow, movies always take me out of my reality. At times, when I feel lonely, I search for a good movie and I escape my real life. There are so many good movies and TV shows available that you will not have a hard time finding one that you like. Also, don’t hesitate to pay $5 or $10 to rent one, you will be saving lots of money by staying home.
Other activities could be reading a good book, doing some decluttering, organizing a zoom new year’s party, writing a summary of the year 2020 and your goals for 2021, writing apology letters to anyone you have wronged during the past (I have to do that with one of my ex-girlfriends), or sending a note to people you haven’t talked to in a long time.
One of the best things you can do is to reach out to someone. The other day, I was scrolling through my Facebook and LinkedIn connection and I sent best wishes messages to over 20 people. Over the following days, many of the people answered back and I was able to have a few engaging conversations. People were happy I reached out because some of them were too timid to do it themselves.
Sometimes we feel like a burden to friends, we assume that they are busy and they won’t have time to spend a few minutes with us, but I bet some people would be happy to hear from you.
Give yourself permission to feel differently
In the past, during a particular weekend, I have felt lonely and sorry for myself because in my imagination, everyone was outside having fun and I was in my apartment with nowhere to go. But this year is different, this year everyone is inside their house with nowhere to go, so I am not missing out on anything, I am in obeying the same social distancing guidance as millions of other citizens around the world. There is no FOMO (fear of missing out) because there is nothing to miss out, we are all in this together for the greater good, we are in this together because we want to get rid of the virus.
This January 1st, 2021 is a day like any other day, like any other Friday when you were home without any plans to go out, and you didn’t feel particularly sad about it.
Sometimes we get attached to how a holiday should look and feel and we don’t give permission to look at them from a different point of view.
At one time or another, we all suffer from anticipatory grief, which is feeling grief in anticipation of an event. In the same way, we can experience anticipatory joy in advance of a vacation or a desired trip, we can feel anxiety in advance of a negative event. Just remember that the anticipation can be worse than the event itself.
With anticipatory joy, we want to extend it as much as possible, by bringing it up and talking about it. With anticipatory grief, you can reduce it by keeping it out of your mind and doing/thinking about other things.
Scroll away or stop scrolling
I always feel guilty when I scroll on social media. I fall prey to Twitter all the time. I feel guilty because I know that I can do more productive stuff with my time, but during the holidays, I give myself permission to scroll away without guilt.
On the other hand, if you feel that your life is less perfect compared to the lives you see on platforms like Instagram, and this comparison stirs negative emotions, take a break from those platforms and remember that many of those images are carefully staged to give an impression of harmony and happiness which in many cases is not true.
Don’t forget how lucky you are
If you are reading this post, most likely you are in good health. It’s important to realize that many others are not so lucky. We are in this situation because we have chosen to stay healthy and to keep our loved ones safe. This year, we are celebrating safety and we are being grateful for being alive.
So cheers. I raise my glass to you and wish you HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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