Happy New Year!
For most of my life, New Year’s Eve has felt like an overrated mess. There were basically two options: Spend a lot of money to stand around a crowded bar full of drunk, pretentious people, or sit home and watching the ball drop on TV. Both seemed deeply unsatisfying, considering how much hoopla surrounds the turning of the calendar. Eventually, I resigned myself to staying home (which, at least, wasn’t as expensive).
For the last two years, however, my wife and I have started our own tradition. We get dressed up and go out to a nice meal with friends we actually like and respect. We pick a spot that is busy enough to have energy, but not crowded. We start late, and order a tasting menu (so that dinner takes a few hours, and we can linger). By the time desert is served, the band is already warming up Auld Lang Syne.
From there, my wife and I don the funny hats, drink some champagne, and do the traditional kiss at the stroke of midnight. It’s kind of perfect.
But the funny thing is that it took us decades to find a way to actually enjoy this holiday. Ultimately, getting it right required being honest with ourselves about what makes us happy, and doing that (as opposed to trying to do what society says you’re supposed to do).
It strikes me that this might be a good lesson for all of us, which is why I wanted to share it with you. Personally, my New Year’s resolution is to apply this to more areas in my life.
***
With the killing of Iran’s Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in Iraq this week, it’s starting to look like my final column of 2019 for the Daily Beast (still behind a paywall) might have been prescient. The column opened with a reminder that the events that would define 2020 (the economy and/or foreign policy developments) were still likely unknown—and probably beyond our control.
May God bless America, as we enter into this still very young New Year.
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