What is it with all the pressure for New Year’s Eve? The perfect date, the perfect dress, the perfect drink, the perfect midnight kiss, who could ever live up to all that? What started as a way to blow off steam back in Ancient Rome with the Saturnalia has morphed into a, mine’s better than yours, evening out. What party did you go to? What bar? What dance? Club? Concert? Show? If you don’t want to go out on New Year’s Eve people treat you like a social failure, as if being an introvert or not wanting to fight the crowds is a personal failing.
Let us strike a blow for sanity! If you want to go out and party-hardy then do, but if the thought makes you’re introverted, social anxious hands sweat then look that co-worker in the eye on Wednesday and say, “I decided to go to my favorite place in the whole world.”
Let them lean in close, eyes eager, and say, “Where’s that?”
“My living room with my family.” “My bedroom with a pile of books and an only slightly smaller pile of cats/dogs/parrots/your pet of choice.” “My best friend’s house.” “My house with my best friend and his family over.” “I finally watched (movie you missed on big screen) with homemade brownies.” “Snuggled up on the couch with my husband/wife/partner/spouse/fiancée/boyfriend/girlfriend/ lover/bff with benefits.”
Put a lot of feeling into it, let them know how much you enjoyed your quiet evening at home, or at a friend’s house. Embrace that you were happy to skip the crowds and the noise. Let people know how thrilled you were to be no one’s designated driver, and how tired you got of being the drunk whisperer. Let me just say for all of us that don’t enjoy drinking, that doesn’t mean that we enjoy watching everyone else get drunk. What may seem like an awesome night of fun when you’re drinking doesn’t translate for those of us who are just spectators to the show. Let us own our own joyous new year and opt out of other people’s ideas of the perfect good time.