New Years Eve-r Alone?

The good and the bad of being UnTethered in the holidays

I’m writing the first part of this on New Year’s Eve morning - wondering what I might feel like doing later today and this evening. Previous years come to mind… I reflect briefly on falling in love with and then being proposed to by my late husband on two past dates. Camping holidays with friends and family, returning home from Christmas events, partying had in the good old days, and more recently, spending a quiet night in either alone or with a friend.

Once I’d never have imagined not celebrating NY at midnight. I believed such a concept to be a sure sign of old age. Now I realise I’m not as young as I once was, and even typing those words make me feel every bit of my 59 years…Ouch! My options for this evening are to reach out to a couple of friends and hang with them, stop in and have a spa night, including a soak in the hot tub, teeth whitening, pedicure etc and feel I’m preparing for the next year in style, writing in my journal, or doing a new vision board while I listen to some favourite music. A hot date with myself might also include Thai take-out, quality wine, rewatchin my favourite movie - The Princess Bride (of course) - and turning in by around 10ish with a good book.

That all sounds very appealing actually, but the reality is I’ll be playing raucous boardgames with lovely friends who called to set it up as I was finishing this post today.

Being alone is not the same as being lonely

I heard on the radio the other day that we should all be checking on elderly neighbours this week because loneliness is rampant at Christmas time. Mmmn. I get that, but do I really think my elderly neighbours care about me banging on their door with the offer of a cuppa? Maybe but I’m more inclined towards heading out for a walk with the dog I’m looking after and just being smiley and friendly to those I meet on the path. But I will make calls later to friends old and new to say hi, wish them a Happy New Year and then I’ll count my blessings that I have developed a wonderful supportive - albeit mostly distant - community of friends and family.

I guess this is really all about aging and how we think about spending time with ourselves and / or with others if needed or desired. It changes year to year, and depends a lot on where I am, who I’m nearly located to, and simply how I feel. So this is also about self care, which is very important for those of us living this UnTethered lifestyle. We have chosen to be resilient, self reliant, and motivated towards what feels good and right in all the moments. We the UnTethered create new memories, enjoy revisiting the old ones, and start each New Year with an expectation of embracing the new.

Bring it on!

Happy New Year to you all…

Dixie

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Photo by Kate Laine on Unsplash