Thoughts on the End of 2023

New Year’s Eve has long been one of my favorite holidays. As a teenager I went to New Year’s Eve dances all the time with my best friend and her two sisters. The next morning I’d usually binge watch football bowl games while enjoying the last of the Christmas break from high school.

In the mid 2000s, after I moved out on my own, I lived in a small college town. I used to go to the local dive bars as most were hosting live music. Most years I made a point to leave shortly before midnight just to beat the after-midnight crowd and drunk drivers. Gave this tradition up in the mid 2010s as it became obvious that most of my friends had moved on, gotten married, etc.

But New Year’s is still a time for reflections and hope for the new year. I don’t read much about those who say New Year’s Resolutions are a waste of time and effort. So what if they are? It’s still fun to reflect on the past twelve months and make predictions for the next twelve months.

The last several years have been rough for most people. Most of us have changed due to world events and personal struggles. I don’t even recognize the person I was ten years ago. If you were to tell me about the changes and hardships that I would encounter in the next ten years back then, I wouldn’t have believed that I would have survived those changes. Most people have no clue what they are capable of surviving.