Speaking about the last day or the first day of the year, we generally have high expectation about it and we tend to do something different. I sometimes feel pressure about this and I actually feel happier during the normal days. Why?

  1. I like routine. Special day means special behavior/meal/gathering, which sometimes doesn’t fit to my preference.
  2. Lots of waste. People tend to order/eat/spend a lot more during the special days.
  3. A decent day becomes not that great. If I go to a normal hiking trail, I will feel happy during a normal day. But for the last day of the year, we tend to have a special trail and feel less satisfactory about the normal good things happening around us.
  4. Lots of reflection and plans. Let’s be honest, we normally cannot predict year-long behavior and cannot remember exactly what has happened 6 months ago. And doing them in such busy ~2 days is also unrealistic.
  5. Positive Bias. We tend to share good wish and present positive experience in the end the year. For someone with a bad year, that could make him/her feel worse through comparison. We probably should be more honest about ourselves and our year.

So, I am suggesting the following:

  1. Respect the routine of others. At least let us sleep well, eat comfortably and have time to be alone.
  2. Only buy/eat/use what we need. About gift, buy something we have high (>90%) confidence that the receiver will like and use, otherwise, just donate the money to effective charity.
  3. Appreciate what we already have and are experiencing.
  4. Reflect and plan more often, don’t just do it in the 2 special days.
  5. Be honest to ourselve and be compassionate about others.

No matter how, still, Happy New Year :D