Not My End-Of-Year Countdown
Simply surviving another year is worth celebrating
When I was younger, I always made a New Year’s resolution list in my journals with a childlike hope that I am shocked to say hasn’t completely flickered out. This private tradition continued through my teen years and most definitely will into my twenties. Because an inherent optimist like me needs to believe that Future Me is going to achieve something that will make Present Me proud.
Achieve something… Now that’s a nagging thought. While I’ve only been in my twenties for two years, I already feel the weight of outside pressure telling me to hurry up and do something with my life. It’s that tiny thought in the back of my head, the one specific to Millennials and Gen-Z’s that says we have to legitimately change the world or make loads of money by the time we’re 25 in order for our lives to have any value.
And as if that shadow wasn’t already standing at the end of my bed every night, there seems to be a new trend making that shadow even bigger. It comes in the form of social media posts that ask, “There’s only [insert amount of months] left in the year! What have you done?” If these posts were physical manifestations, they’d look a lot like those Uncle Sam wartime posters.
So, I’m left sitting there under that accusatory, pointing finger wondering: what have I done? My daily life consists of going to school, coming back home, and eating homemade pizza. In comparison to others’ impressive list of accomplishments over the past year, it seems as if I’ve wasted another year working toward nothing particularly life-changing.
