Arbitrary Time Distinctions Kill Us Slowly
So, another New Year’s has come and, gratefully, gone. I don’t know about you, but I am damned sick and tired of all of the clichés that necessarily accompany this time of the year. The bad champagne, the boring parties, the meaningless toasts, and even less meaningful well-wishing. The media saturates us with pre-midnight countdowns, as if we were being launched into outer space, as we mindlessly gaze at the ball being dropped on Times Square. And we cheer, as if on cue.
This critique is really not at all about sour grapes or even generic ‘grinchiness’. It is, though, more about the fact that arbitrary time distinctions, (like the big deal about new years), does nothing other than bring unnecessary pressures to bear on all of us. I mean, hey, it makes us feel lousy, and worried, and anything but ‘happy!’ And it doesn’t need to continue. I mean, it’s one thing to have plans and look forward to good stuff, but it’s really quite another to obsess on what the new year may bring. And, if we’re really truthful about it, we know that the two feelings go together. I’d like to avoid both, ‘cause the looking forward part definitely isn’t worth the price of the worry part.
For example, and as if all of the above stuff isn’t bad enough, there’s the business of making new year resolutions. As for resolutions, there isn’t a more self-defeating exercise than this one. Because what it really does is have you painstakingly categorize your seeming failures and amplify your so-called weaknesses. You know the deal; “I need to lose weight”, “I should have more interests”, “this year I’m going to museums more often”, etc. ad nauseum. As a result, and in some vague and absurd quest for self-improvement, you accomplish nothing except negate who you are. Look, I’m not at all saying that having goals are bad-quite the contrary-but to tie your objectives to any arbitrary date will do nothing but guarantee failure. I mean, like, how about lightening up, and valuing yourself for who you are, not something you hope to create by some silly resolution.
By the way, and while I’m at it, I do indeed wish you a very healthy and happy new year!
What do you think?