NEW YEARS EVE..ARE YOU HAVING A QUIET OR BUSY ONE?

[blondguy]

Hi Everyone!

• How will you be spending your time this Christmas and/or New Years Eve?
• With family...friends..relatives....partner?
• If you are spending this festive season alone...your thoughts are just as valued and appreciated!
• Readers of the forums can post too! Joining the Beyond Blue forums is easy and your thoughts are very welcome 🙂

my kindest wishes for the season

Paul

[Eagle Ray]

You’re welcome CMF 😊

[randomxx]

Funny really but l've never felt much for the actual NYE itself. Only for the fact through earlier days it could be an opportunity and tradition to have some fun.

l do love a new yr itself once it's settled into a few wks in, but the actual night itself doesn't do much for me apart from that.Those things make you feel like you should be doing something really but in all honesty if nothings happening l'm just as happy to have a normal night and go to bed. Mind you there have been at least a few though that will always hold a special place to me.

lt always beats me as we get older though that people still just keep on asking - what did you do to nyrs,l always think what do people just keep doing nyrs eves until they're 110 or what.

l suppose on the flip side we could be flattered in a way that they still think we like to party right.

rx

[Eagle Ray]

Hi randomxx,

Yes, I remember the pressure especially as a young adult before NYE, when people would always ask, what are you doing for it? There was always a pressure to do something. I remember going into the city one time with a friend and it was a good vibe with everyone celebrating, culminating in the whole packed street counting down to midnight. But as you say, even when we’re older it’s like still a thing. I think the best thing is to do what feels right in any given year, whether that’s to go out somewhere, have a party/gathering or just a quiet night. It’s been quiet nights for me in recent times.

ER

[mmMekitty]

Hello everyone

Yes, I have had people asking, not just around Xmas/New Year, if I see my family, & then, Xmas/New Year comes around, & they are asking if I'll be spending time/ the holidays / Xmas / New Year's with them. It was as if they couldn't imagine I might not be.

I am grateful, now I am looking old - or is it  'old enough' for people to actually imagine I live by myself, so aren't asking like they once did. Maybe they look at me now, & realise my parents aren't around anymore, so I won't be spending time with them.

Still, that would say, it's expected, if there is family anywhare on the globe, we would want to be with them.

When I said I wasn't doing anything, I would get this sort of sad response, like they feel sorry for me, or it's a sort of shame I don't spend time with family, especially around Xmas/New Year, nor do all the feasting/partying/gifting/holidaying things.

Whatever we do or don't do over the next few weeks, at least, must we feel pressured into doing things others think are what we 'should' do?

So long as it does no harm, do what you feel will be good for you. That's my only advice.

Hugzies

mmMekitty

[Eagle Ray]

Dear MK,

I couldn’t agree more. I think to do what you feel is good for you is excellent advice, not just for Christmas and New Year, but life generally. Sometimes we have to break from social trends to be the healthiest, happiest version of ourselves. It can actually be quite liberating to know we can make decisions in our own best interests. I am learning it is ok to choose who I want to be around and when, rather than feeling a sense of obligation to try and meet other people’s expectations.

Hugs,

ER

[CMF]

I love this. I am feeling better about it all. I have the freedom to chose how I spend NYE & it is liberating not to have to do anything. 

Thank you friends 💓 

[CMF]

I am actually grateful for having no NYE ans. I feel free not needing to have to be with with people or do anything. I'm looking forward to it, to not having to be around people I don't want to be around.

[Eagle Ray]

That's wonderful CMF. You can make it a night for you. Sometimes it is good to have that total freedom of not having to fit in with anyone else and just enjoy your own space.

I may go to wish my 87 year old neighbour Happy New Year in the afternoon. She has recently had Covid and pretty much recovered now. She is very spritely for her age and back to driving to visit family in a nearby town, a three hour round trip. I hope I'm as good as her at 87. As she's on her own too it might be nice to see her, or have her here for a cup of tea earlier in the day.

Best wishes,

Eagle Ray

[mmMekitty]

Hello everyone.

I was remembering the New Year's parties my parents put on for their friends, with us kids in attendance, mostly to fetch drinks & empty ashtrays, it seemed to me. I didn't enjoy the social - didn't know what to say or do, felt 'outside' a lot.

At midnight we'd make a lot of noise, banging on pots & pans, blowing those party blower things, the ones that unroll with a feather stuck to the ends, & tossing paper streamers.

But that wouldn't be the end of the night. It wasn't enough for us kids either, to see in the New Year. We'd want to stay awake all night & see the sunrise.

As the night wore on, the people would be 'relaxed' shall we say, & because here in Australia, the night were warm & we'd be outside. The music would be turned down low.

Small groups would be in quiet conversation. Others were dozing wherever they happened to be. Really lucky if they had a bean bag, not so if they happened to be lying on the cement around the pool.

*

I feel sort of sentimental about those parties, although they weren't all that much fun for me. & the next day, it was us kids who had to clean up, too.

Although it hasn't happened anywhere near where I've lived for many years, I still half expect to hear neighbours shouting "Happy New Year", banging pots & pans, then dogs barking, & cars going by, with their drivers tooting their horns.

But, no, that doesn'thappen anymore - except, if someone has the tele on, watching the fireworks from somewhere, & it'sthe people attending who I might hear yelling, "Happy New Year" & "Hip, hip, hooray!"

Hugzies

mmMekitty

[Eagle Ray]

Dear MK,

You have painted a really good picture there. I can just imagine everything you describe.

 I have childhood memories of New Year’s at a relatives in a seaside town. It looked so dark sitting on her balcony which looked out in the direction of the ocean. My cousin told me scary stories and only being little I got really spooked. I remember going inside into the light to feel a bit safer. But her lava lamp was in there and I think that scared me a bit too 😂 I’d never seen anything like it before. I remember the effort to keep my eyelids open till midnight, then the midnight countdown and fireworks near the water. Everyone got in a circle and sand Auld Lang Syne holding hands with arms crossed. It was a good feeling doing a ritual and being part of it even if I didn’t know the words and fumbled my way through.

 I’m glad for those memories now. It’s amazing how our lives are made of these memories. Thank you for sharing yours MK as it reminded me of my own memories.

Hugs,

ER