Wasted Wednesday: The New Year

Once again it is a new year.  No longer will we write 2012 on our checks and terms papers but we will replace the dreaded year that was said to be our last with the number 2013.  We move from December 31st to January 1st and it becomes an epidemic.  Men and women rush around to find that certain someone to kiss at midnight while those who have no one feel shame or just plain resent.  Thousands of people pile on top of each other in New York City to watch the ball drop that costs thousands, if not millions, of dollars all for just one night of pleasure.  Not to mention the hype that surrounds the ball such as top ten celebrities with not much talent but big names and under appreciated agents behind them.  And finally, now that it is the new year people have to figure out, optimistically, what their faults are and try to fix them in the new year because it is too much to ask them to fix themselves in April or August or October.

Maybe it is just me but it seems like the New Year has become a bit over hyped and a lot commercial!  I mean, don't get me wrong, I grew up watching the ball drop with my parents and celebrating and having fun but this year as I sat watching Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve, I truly felt disgusted with the entire tradition.  I was watching this huge ball slowly sink toward the ground that costs enough to feed a third world country probably, a bunch of sub-par celebrities who don't have much talent but a name to themselves because of the press and their invisible agents, and I wasn't even at a party which automatically made me "sad" because instead I was at home with just my grandma and we played the game CLUE. 
This isn't the first time I have been disgusted by the new year festivities though.  It was around ninth grade when I began to wonder why new year's resolutions were such a hit to the public.  Let's be real here.  At least 75% of the American population makes a new years resolution.  Heck, I made one!  I vowed to read 50 books in 2012 and succeeded.  But most don't succeed at their goals.  In fact, they do not succeed because the goals they are trying to meet are either not realistic or they truly do not want their goal all that badly.  What really bothers me though is this - why must we make a resolution to better ourselves just because it is the new year?  Shouldn't we be trying to better ourselves all of the time?  To point out my 50 books goal, I feel no shame because I was not reading the books to feel better about myself or to better myself.  I only participated in the challenge for fun and look at where it has got me!  I never expected to have a blog I love so much nor did I expect to read so many books in such a wide variety.  I never expected where this blog and this 50 book challenge would take me and I am so grateful for it all.  But most people do not make a new year's resolution in this light.  Just a disclaimer - I'm not trying to make myself sound better than anyone else (considering my new year's resolution would be to lose weight and that hasn't happened for a long while).  Most people make a new year's resolution because they want to, A. please someone, B. rival someone, or C. make themselves feel like they are achieving something just because they say they are "going" to do it.
And then the new years kiss.  I will be honest, this has to be up their with Valentines Day.  What is the big deal?  Why do people feel the urge to kiss someone at midnight?  If you love someone, you should be kissing them all of the time because you love them!  Don't use New Years as an excuse!  However, the kiss isn't a bad tradition.  If you have someone you love and are watching the ball drop, it is nice to kiss them.  But if you aren't in love or don't currently have someone, don't feel any worse off because of it.  Don't let society define your life because you will never be happy that way.
January 1st 2013 was just another day for me.  Both of my grandmas were over for dinner and we played apples to apples, watching some Bowl Games, and ate chilly.  Technically, it is just another day.  Time is a man made invention.  So my advice is, don't take the new year too seriously.  Traditions are great but don't buy into them with so much frivolity and ignorance.  Just make the new year what you want to make it and don't try to do things just because society says they are "New Years" acceptable.