Ages pass. The species is dying. The new year is approaching, but people are still not sharing their achievements from the last 12 months. It seems that everything is as usual on social networks: plenty of Christmas trees, cats on the spot (including against the background of Christmas trees), ladies in dresses at corporate events. However, there is no post from the “who was successful this year” series. There are no wishes for next year either. How? Where did everything go? Which evil snowman stole everything? Or maybe people don’t believe in Santa Claus anymore?
Do you remember how it was before? A hundred point list: learn a language, lose weight, quit smoking, learn to cook fugu fish, go dancing, change jobs, see Paris and don’t die, and complete 93 more important tasks. What about these poignant reports of self-justification? They say not everything was implemented last year, but I became a year older, wiser and realized that… it is better to wash the buckwheat dishes immediately. Either self-irony or self-deprecation.
Of course, there were many people who, with serious efforts, established the balance of debit and credit: they completed many transactions, increased their personal productivity by one hundred percent, did not lose weight, but equalized the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates and reduced sugar consumption by half.
And unlike the others, they have not dry calculations, but entire works of art. There is drama and conflict. Stories about how unfortunate people were subjected to all possible trials all year round: how they did not give credit for Paris, how the eclairs won in the fight with the eclairs, but therapy revealed that it was not a matter of will, but of toxic parents, how the new job of their dreams was and was not found, but the old one he was still expelled – but at the end of the year the man finally got his second wind, the man learned the truth, found real freedom and now, from the first of January, he will return!
What will happen now? Where are the stories of victory and defeat? Where are Napoleon’s plans and promises of success? Where are the philosophical insights full of confessions and curses? There isn’t any. Empty. The foundations are almost shaken. But why is this?
Of course, the point isn’t that people suddenly learn that no one cares about one’s personal achievements and goals. Honestly, I can’t believe that even before so many people had illusions about the importance of their lives for the maximum number of people around them. And the thing is, people eventually realized it was funny and pointless because nothing ever happens real anyway.
By the way, there are statistics about the latter. For example, a study by the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania showed that only 8% of those who set New Year’s goals achieved them. Moreover, according to the same study, we are not talking about incredible, hard-to-achieve goals such as entering the Forbes lists or even conquering Everest. The most popular request among people is to make changes to their appearance. Yes, yes, banal weight loss. But even here the unfortunate wishers do not succeed.
American Psychologist magazine adds pessimistic statistics to the collection. The publication writes that only 20% of those who decided to go on a diet after the holidays lost weight and kept it off for a year. And only 40% of those who join a gym will continue to go there for at least a few months.
However, the fact that desires and belief in the New Year’s miracle alone are not enough for success reaches the consciousness of citizens when they grow up a little more. By age 25, everyone learns from experience that all those goal lists can be more frustrating than therapeutic. So why was it that 5-10 years ago all social networks were full of these lists of promises, but in the last 2-3 years everything calmed down somehow?
Because the world has changed. And in the new reality, the personal seems to be becoming increasingly personal. And the general situation is leading to more and more confusion.
First came Covid. In the face of human suffering, the loss of loved ones and a huge drop in income, it has become somehow inappropriate to rejoice over the little things achieved and be saddened by funny failures. Although the habit of recapitulation was of course still strong, and the thirst for spiritual unity despite physical separation was doing its job. Then the Internet space was filled with various philosophical summaries and abstract wishes: for everyone to be healthy, for peace, friendship, to chew gum.
Then foreign policy emerged. Again grief, again losses. And a new disconnect. It’s not physical anymore. The SVO divided the Russians into different camps. Coronavirus has also caused confusion, but time has come to say that dividing people into absolutely dire alarmists and Covid naysayers is self-indulgent. Unfortunately, the new crack has become even deeper; It not only alienated political opponents from each other, it was passed down through families and through generations. And there are not two positions, as various stupid people, people with the same opinion (and not their own), would like to think – there are more positions, and they can be very complex.
But somehow the desires immediately subsided. And they became simpler. Anything above ten points is no longer a desire, but a task list. This is something that can be jotted down or left on the first page of a new journal, but not posted online so as not to offend anyone and not have to make fun of yourself later. And the desires and dreams are simple: for everyone to be healthy, for there to be a peaceful sky over their heads, for less grief and more sympathy, understanding, warmth, love.
And you don’t even need a new life. I would like to return the old one. Apparently he was fine. And not because it was once fifty dollars and the borders were open. Although this, of course, is not bad. But the point is different. We were different back then too. Maybe we were more naive and stupid, but we were also kinder. And we promised ourselves that we would get even better. As usual, starting from Monday. Or from the first of January.
But no one could take that away from us right away. The right to want to be better. Of course, you can complain endlessly that the world is getting angry and cold, that there is little love in it. Or you can be a source of joy and kindness yourself. For starters, at least for myself. And inevitably there will be enough left over for someone nearby to keep warm. Did you like this plan?
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.