I Hate New Year! - Society

Everyone loves the New Year, and I'm already starting to hate this holiday. I am so exhausted with buying gifts, cleaning the apartment, cooking that I do not get any joy from the chimes. I want to do everything as best I can, which results in fatigue and even irritation. Olga, 36 years old

What is New Year? This is a holiday. One of the series of special days that life has generously endowed us with. Name days and engagements, christenings and anniversaries, diplomas and car licenses. But still, we have a special attitude towards the New Year. This holiday is shrouded in a fabulous atmosphere, the mystery of a long snowy night, the mystery of the transition to a new time. This is what gives the New Year's holiday a zest. There will never be 2016 again! Therefore, it must be carried out with dignity, richness, widely! And there has never been 2017! So, you need to meet him beautifully, brightly, so that everything is enough on the table. If you follow the theory “as you celebrate the New Year, you will spend it”, you will be full for the next year and will live in a perfectly clean house. However, the year will begin with raking dirty dishes and half-eaten goodies.

If we celebrate the New Year with the hope of something new, and you stubbornly do everything in the old way, what are you laying the foundation for the future?

I suppose that when you were a little younger, you really wanted to please your family members, conquer everyone with your culinary abilities, establish yourself as a good housewife, acquire the status of All-Mighty, All-Doing and All-Sufficient. Surely they were wildly proud of themselves, perhaps they asserted themselves … Years passed, fatigue and, as you write, irritation accumulated.

Which exit? I suggest two. The first is to meet 2017 in a radically different way. To go out of town, to a cozy little hotel, or just go to a restaurant, perhaps not invite to your place, but visit someone …

The second is more gentle. If you have a habit of celebrating the New Year at home, with the invitation of numerous relatives, you can very correctly ask them to participate in the formation of the menu. It may have a beautiful name "An evening with baskets". For example, in Latvia this is the name of a party to which each invitee brings a treat for the common table in a basket. You just have to decorate the house and cook one of your signature dishes. And think about makeup, hair and outfit!

Do not try to do the best you can, throw the efforts of your reflections on making it as easy, joyful, more enjoyable, more varied as possible. Do not remain hostage to stereotypes and attitudes, which, perhaps, have already outlived their …

For example, you can take everyone to a bowling alley or to a movie as a shared gift. No unnecessary packaging, no running to discount counters, nothing that creates fuss and leaves you hostage to habits …

I won't write about perfectionism. Just remember what English word the term came from? From the word perfection - perfection. Is it possible to achieve perfection? You can only strive for it! And it is important to enjoy the process!

Photo: Alena Root / Photobank Lori