Happy 2025! And Why I'm Not Recapping 2024.
I’ve never really liked New Year’s Eve. Maybe it’s the unrealistic expectations that Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical imparted on me when I was 13, or maybe it’s the way they’re STILL trying to make those glasses work for the year 2025 when we all know the last one should have been in 2009 (when will they give it up?!). But I just don’t like the idea of spending too much money and staying up too late and drinking too much champagne in the name of an arbitrary, made up concept of time. Brb while I go down a rabbit hole of researching calendars and the origins of the Gregorian calendar. This is fascinating stuff. I still don’t have a plan for ringing in the new year tonight and keep going back and forth on whether I want to stay in and watch a movie or go out in case the bird flu becomes the next pandemic and I regret not going out like I did for NYE in 2019.
I guess I’ve always gone along with New Year’s Eve because I love a reason to celebrate and it makes sense that we want to assign meaning to it. I do like how the New Year brings a renewed sense of hope. Being hopeful is the point of it all; it’s what keeps us going. Without hope, what are we even doing here? The turn of the calendar each year is a good time to reflect on life, if not just for the purpose of remembering the past and hoping for the future. It’s easy to forget just how far we’ve come. When I look back at photos from this year, I can’t believe how much has changed in the past 12 months. It feels natural to want to look back, recap, and share it with everyone we know.
Though, I’ve got to be honest, the end of year recaps are making me feel depressed this year. And it’s not like I didn’t also have a great year. 2024 brought me a new home in Seattle, lots of travel, new friends and a beautiful new baby nephew. I have a list of goals achieved, shortcomings, accomplishments, favorite this-and-thats of the year. There were some challenges too. And I had big plans to write a blog rehashing all of it, accompanied by a buttoned up Instagram highlight reel to share with those who haven’t heard about my year face-to-face.
But who is that for?
I took some time to actually reflect on that this week. And I decided that I’m going to keep the recap to myself this year, just for me. I’m doing it because it’s nice for me to look back on the year and pat myself of the back. I’m doing it because I want to track my growth and progress. I’m doing it because I want to set goals for the new year ahead. And although I always appreciate your support, dear reader, why the f*** would you care about my 2024 recap and goals for next year?
It seems like these recaps are really just for ourselves, aren’t they? Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of all of my friends and family for reaching their goals or finding success this year. I want to share their joy, congratulate them and celebrate with them. We should definitely be celebrating our successes and supporting each other through hardships, now more than ever. And I appreciate how social media helps me stay connected with people who live far away. But lately I’ve been a bit burnt out by being chronically online and I’ve been reflecting on what kind of role I want social media to play in my life. I didn’t even find Spotify Wrapped exciting this year, which I usually look forward to every December so I can nerd out about music with everyone.
The whole point of these recaps seems like a comparison game, right? Who read the most books this year? Who reached all of their goals? Who advanced the most in their career? Who has the most eclectic taste in music? Who got married, or engaged, or had children, or bought a house? Who suffered the most? Who traveled to the coolest places? Whose recap post got the most likes? Don’t even get me started on the triggering fitness posts. I’ve spent most of my life trying to unlearn comparing myself to others and just stay in my lane and love myself. But social media has been making that difficult lately. One can make the argument that these posts are not to compare ourselves to others but rather to our own selves. But if that were the case, then why do we make them public? There’s something to be said about the sense of community it brings, but lately I’ve been yearning for a different kind of in-person community that isn’t found in my phone.
Look, we’re all just out here doing our best. And if all of the comparison is actually making us feel bad about ourselves, then we have the option to take a step back from our screens and not participate this year.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t make your social media posts about 2024. I think you should do whatever you want to do! Reflection is healthy, celebrating is wonderful, community support is important! And I’m not trying to yuck anyone else’s yum. I’m just saying that if seeing everyone’s highlight reel is making you feel like shit because you don’t think you’ve accomplished enough or you didn’t get everything you were hoping for this year, that’s valid. And I’m right there with you, friend. We can be both grateful for our lives and exhausted with all of the comparison.
My relationship with social media is constantly changing. These are the complex questions I face every day with a job in social media in a world where it’s not going away any time soon. Maybe down the road I’ll change my mind about all of this and come back with a vengeance of recaps in 2025. Jury’s still out on whether or not I’ll post a bunch of 2024 photos within the next week or so. But for now, I’m going to write in my journal and keep it for my eyes only. I’m going to paint and draw and make art with my hands. I’m going to waffle on whether it’s worth it to change out of my PJs today. I’m going to have conversations about hopes and dreams in real life. And if you actually are, for some reason, interested in hearing about my 2024 recap and goals for 2025, I invite you to call me or grab a coffee with me so we can talk about mine and yours together. Because that sounds so much more lovely than putting together a highlight reel and measuring my self worth based on how many people tap the little heart underneath it.
Happy New Year! Sending lots of love and hope for a good 2025.