New year: new changes??
“Happy New Year…!!? But nothing is new; even the day has been there before. So what is new to be glad about when it is similar to any other day? NW (short word for anyway), Bright future 2 u”, was a text message I got from an unknown number on January 1, 2020 at 12:37 after midnight.
Whoever that person was got me thinking about a lot of things because that person is right and wrong at the same time. Nowadays, planning to change something in the coming year has become a norm. The New Year is an exclusive day when people shower one another with gifts and blessings. So, I asked myself, why this day in particular? Is it not like every other day?
Have you noticed that even without having to think about it, people introduce many changes of different sorts in a new year? The changes we want to make in New Year tend to depend on our gender, marital status, age, living standard and many others. Married people may want to change their house utensils or buy something new for the house. Some want to change their physical appearance, hairstyle, for example. People with addiction wait for this specific day to let go of their habit.
“What are your resolutions for the new year?” is a question people frequently ask few days before and after a new year. No matter how close they are to you, people just ask you that question. Well, you would not want to go around telling people about your plans because, as the saying goes, ‘big moves are not planned out loud’. So I tell my casual friends, “I’ll be working harder and try to remain happy”. But to the people whom I think are in a place to know about my real plan, “dear reader, you don’t expect me to tell you, do you?”
The conventional way to change is to do it when a need for change arises. Our brain responds to such a need, not to a day such as new year. Whenever a person needs to modify something, the person should modify it or get it modified o n time w h e n he/ she thinks they need it. I think the problem is that we check on ourselves annualy, like a shop inventory. On New Year’s Eve, many people celebrate the fact that a day changes. But talk to yourself every day; check it whenever you are free. You will find something to change or fix every time you do the cheking.
We all passed the stages of childhood when we only used pencils to write and then at some point we were allowed to use pens. The first time I got that PRIVILEDGE, I wrote something and canceled it. I scrawled over my mistakes to make it known that it was a mistake. But as I grew up, I learned to leave the mistakes with a small mark and turn to another page. That way, my exercise books became more neat and attractive than when I scratched over them. This is life. You don’t have to scratch over your mistakes or try to erase them . You do not like this page? Just put a small mark and turn to the other page, so you still remember your mistake but do not deface the current page, that is today, which will eventually leave a scratch on the next page, tomorrow.
These days, the changes that we introduce are more like the decorated citylights that are put up for a holiday and taken down afterward to be put up the same time next year. If you plan to change something, stick to it, be persistent and work hard to get it. The difference between the old and new generation begins at this point. People of our generation are not persistent enough to win a challenge. We let go of our desires for change too early to give ourselves better chances.
This year, many people went to Massawa to spend the New Year Eve and the day itself in a differ-ent atmosphere. I went out with a friend on the Eve of 2020. Harnet Avenue was over crowded with young people, many high school seniors enjoying their last New Year in Asmara before they go to Sawa. Young adults were either at bars and clubs dancing and drinking or down at Massawa washing the misfortunes of the passing year, 2019. Either way, it is a new year and it is okay to make big plans and say your goodbyes to the old one, but they say big things have small beginnings. The culture of giving up and underestimating ourselves is a horrible epidemic these days. If you believe something needs to change inside or outside of yourself, then go for it. Don’t wait and don’t give up. Let me share an advice I got from someone three years ago when I failed an exam, ‘an arrow is drawn backward so that it can strike harder’. This is all to say that the beautiful New Year bears equal chances as the beautiful 365 every days. It is okay to pick the part that needs change off during any of those days.
“I dnt knw (don’t know) who this is, but it’s just all in our mind. Nothin (nothing) may be new but we set a new journey to create something new, it is every1’s right to aspire great things with a New Year. Everything is possible if you think positive and that’s what people do in New Year, HNY” was the text I wrote back to my unknown friend and, by the way, what the New Year brings you depends a great deal on what you bring to the New Year. (Vern McLellan) We bring good vibe to the New Year and it brings back better vibes.