A new year means goals. Resolutions. Expectations. No room for fuck-ups or else the entire year is deemed a shit year and “guess 2022 is where it’s at!” posts are all over social media.
My least favorite time of the year is New Years. I don’t like the celebration aspect of New Year’s Eve, and I deemed these December holidays as just regular days for the sake of my own mental health. Don’t get me wrong, the whole thing about needing that reset button on life and that extra push to do better in the new year is perfectly fine; I personally know how bad of a year things can be and the only hope you have is for the next year to come.
Oops, my bad, before I go on this rant any further:
Hi, my name is Liz and expectations are some of the most nerve-wrecking things to have ever because of the absolute uncertainty and just the fact that if your expectations are not met, then it’s completely your fault you set those expectations so damn high.
… in a nutshell, hi, Liz here, we hate the concept of new years because of the expectations.
Goals, resolutions, whatever you want to call them; puts too much emphasis of being the thing that makes our year better. It puts the expectations that the upcoming year has to be amazing and has to be great and we expect that we will all be in better places if we have nothing but those good things happen to us.
But, progress is not linear. Progress is not calculated in positive things and milestones and hitting those expectations all the time. It’s being able to go over the obstacles of the unpredictable bad times and being able to move forward with your life. It’s learning from the bad experiences, not avoiding them from happening.
So, I guess my expectations for this year is to not have any expectations. Let the chips fall where they lay and let life happen. Learn from what happens and try our absolute hardest to not internalize everything and just let it go. I want 2021 to show me that although progress is not linear, progress is being made. Think more positively about the overall picture instead of nit-picking every little thing in my life. That things can not be okay, that it’s okay if everything isn’t in our favor, and that no matter what, progress will be made in the process.
So, the fuck the expectations that you have for the new year. Fuck the expectations that are your goals and resolutions have to be achieved in order to have a successful year. Fuck the expectations that if something doesn’t go as planned, you’ve failed as a person. Fuck the expectations that if you aren’t who people want you to be, that you again failed as person.
Expect the unexpected and be okay with it.
Letters From Liz. 