My birthday’s in January, so naturally, every turn of a new year to me marks another year of age. I am turning twenty-two soon, and most of those twenty-two years, I have rarely ever missed a single moment of transition from one year to another, always stayed up past midnight. Last year and the year before, I was even among the crowd, counting down, bursting with joy when the Habour Bridge was lit up by fiery flowers in front of our very eyes.
This year, I’m sitting quietly in my bedroom, in a quiet house, in a quiet neighbourhood far from the excitement in the city centre. It turns out to be exactly what I need: some peace and quiet to reflect on a year that’s passed–which I have certainly been delving into for the entire evening. I’m listening to a New Year jazz playlist on YouTube–cliché, I know–and drafting a new list of New Year’s Resolutions, after having checked off two-thirds of the one I wrote last year. It might just be superstition or wishful thinking, but Mum has always told me to write down my goals–“By writing them down, you are making a commitment to yourself,” says she.
I’m staying in, and the funny thing is that I hadn’t expected I would be feeling the exact same thrill I had felt underneath the skies of fireworks. It’s the same thrill we get when we wait to see how the final climax of a film unfolds, when we turn the last few pages of a fiction book to move on to the next one in the series, when we listen to the last few tunes of a song to see what’s next on shuffle.
I think that’s the point of New Year’s Eve–a checkpoint, a reminder to appreciate ourselves for what we’ve done in the past year and to embrace whatever we are to do in the one that follows.
It’s the end of another year. Thank you to all who have stuck beside me, those who love me and whom I love dearly. Thank you, my mentors, my friends, my confidantes.
For now, I will share the last two doughnuts and a new year’s kiss with my SO, head to bed, be asleep by midnight. I’ll get out of bed by 9am (fingers crossed!), meditate, do a light 5-min warm-up exercise, make breakfast, then get down to the pile of stuff I absolutely can’t procrastinate doing any further.
I am starting 2019 on the right foot, and to whoever is reading this, I hope you are, too. Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best.
Minh-Anh Mia Do
The Specs 