Start new year right; aim for a good finish

All righty then, another New Year’s Eve down, full of drunken revelry, debauchery, and general bad behavior … or not.

It’s definitely the latter for me, and the odds that my wife and I will even stay awake to see the ball drop in Times Square are no better than even. When I recall a particular party that lasted until 4 a.m., after which I went home and slept for three hours before going to work, I’m forced to assume that some alien occupied my body way back then.

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” – Bill Vaughan, longtime Kansas City Star columnist

If Christmas is the most important religious holiday of the year for some, New Year’s might be the secular counterpart. Personally, I’m inclined to see Super Bowl Sunday as the penultimate nonreligious celebration but, then, I forget that football is a religion for more than a few Americans.

“New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” – Mark Twain

I should tell you that my first go at a column for New Year’s Day included way too much reality. That means it was quite likely more accurate, correct, on track and congruent with real life, but New Year’s Day is no time for that. (We can wait a week, as per Mr. Twain.)

It’s the last day that we can officially feel guilt free about our holiday gluttony, general overindulgence, and a complete lack of fiscal sanity. Like those Cirque Du Soleil tickets for next November. Oh, well, plenty of time to forget how much they cost.

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” – Bill Vaughan

It seems to me that New Year’s is a more pragmatic version of Christmas. Christmas, for some, offers hope for all eternity, in the birth of Jesus. New Year’s simply says, “Hey, it’s a brand new year, there are 365 days ahead, so try not to screw them up too badly.”

Granted, that’s not the loftiest aphorism, but as I’m a pessimist in an optimist’s body – which I think makes me a realist – it’s practical and something everyone can aspire to. That is, besides never buying another summer sausage and cheese platter.

“People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they should really be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.” – Unknown

I think it’s best to start the New Year with low expectations. It’s way easier to appreciate the good that happens when you don’t really expect it to.

So I might make a resolution after all: I expect nothing and will, therefore, be grateful for anything. That sounds like a humble enough way to approach the next 365 days.

And here’s another saying that I think may have some staying power: “Just because I work like a fool doesn’t mean I’m fool enough to think that it will work.” – Me

I like that. It tells me (and you) to get after it, to do my best, but not to expect that the world will necessarily comply with my desires.

In any case, I’d like to offer you the wish that your desires actually do come true in the following year, and that your resolutions, whatever they are, get you off to a good start.

Even better, a good finish.