December** 31 is a difficult night for many people.

It’s often the night when the mental filing cabinets and cupboards in which we stash all the woulda/coulda/shoulda, unhappy and plain old bad stuff of our lives pop open at the same time and we find ourselves buried.

And that means we often start the New Year depressed.

To avoid this people attend frantic parties and/or drink too much—anything to avoid having their mind start down the slippery slope.

Others hole up and just cope, counting the hours until New Year’s is gone for another year.

Knowing this first hand I thought I’d share how I’ve handled my New Year’s Eve for the last few years.

I found the first thing is to understand that you won’t be hit with a thunderbolt if you go to bed before midnight. That may sound funny, but most of us are brainwashed from an early age that we must stay up and “see the New Year in.”

I was amazed how much easier my life got when I finally rid myself of that attitude; doing so lifted a great weight and gave me a feeling of freedom that’s very difficult to describe.

Here’s what I did that year and do now.

1. Plan a very indulgent dinner by treating yourself to something you don’t normally have—prime rib, lobster, filet—it doesn’t matter as long as it isn’t your normal fare.
2. Think about what you want to drink, if anything. Champagne is an automatic choice that owes itself more to marketing and brainwashing than personal preference, so think about what really turns you on, what you like to sip and savor—a special cocktail, single malt, designer beer (yes, beer).
3. Increase the indulgence with a dessert you love, but never allow yourself to have.
4. Tell your good friends where you’ll be and that they are free to stop by, call, IM, tweet, whatever. Don’t tell anyone who doesn’t have their act together and chooses to go the drunk and/or depressed route. It’s a lot easier to be dragged down than it is to lift up someone who chooses to go the other way—you know the difference.
5. There are many way to spend your evening
   1. deep in a book you’ve been dying to read, but didn’t have time;
   2. soak in a hot bath until you’re well-done and wrinkled;
   3. rent a movie that you’ve been promising yourself or a long time favorite—better yet, rent two;
   4. catch up on your sleep, seriously If you are exhausted, really tired, have your dinner, soak in a hot tub or take a hot shower and go to bed. Think about it. How many times over the years have you found your eyes closing and forcing yourself to stay awake until midnight?
6. Be kind, to yourself and to those who move through or live in your world; doing so is the best way to be kind to yourself, too.
7. Even if ‘d’ above doesn’t apply skip the propaganda and go to sleep at your normal time.

This advice doesn’t just apply to singles, it works equally well for couples (amazing what taking a hot shower together can lead to:), especially if it’s been a year as tough as 2009.

Finally, if you are very bored and want to chat, you can reach me New Year’s Eve at 866.265.7267 or use the chat box at the right. I’m always up for good conversation.

Have a wonderful New Year’s and remember, it will be over before you know it.

**A hat tip and my thanks to David Dougherty for catching my typo of “January 31” and notifying me.

Image credit: insouciance on flickr

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 12:18 am and is filed under Just For Fun, Personal Growth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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