Different things you feel at the beginning of the year

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Are you the type of person who excitedly awaits the oh but-wonderful new year? Or maybe you’re the kind who anxiously dreads that time of year? Come to think of it, perhaps you’re both of these people, and that’s okay! We’re here to assure you that those mixed feelings you might be experiencing in any shape, way, or form are normal.

Different reactions

It’s safe to claim that we tend to have different reactions towards similar situations. Meaning that you might be heading into this year with hope and positivity which wasn’t necessarily the case in the beginning of last year. And that’s okay. You don’t have to feel the same way every time December 31st approaches or when you hear that end-of-the-year countdown. Feelings change depending on your mental, emotional, and even physical state, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Take a moment to slowly but heavily breathe. Learn how to label your emotions and understand why you’re feeling the way you are. And finally, be able to accept the flexibility of them by being fully grounded with yourself.

inThat being said, these different forms of contrasting emotions don’t necessarily apply to each year solely. Meaning that you can still carry a heavy bag of mixed emotions when you’re standing there in the beginning of an upcoming 12-month-long road. You can feel excited, hopeful, and optimistic (I mean, it’s a new year after all) but still feel worried, down, and overthinking (it’s bound to happen)! You know what else is normal? Feeling neutral. It doesn’t have to be one end of the extreme spectrum of emotions nor does it have to be a mixture of different ones. Simply feeling neutral like any other day is for some, assuring as well.

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Now what?

Now that we’ve talked about how we tend to have different reactions when approaching the new year’s, it’s time to deal with that!

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1. Breathe

If I had a nickel for every time, I heard the famous bunch “breathe- breathing techniques” I would no doubt have a couple of bucks stacked. But in all seriousness, when we tend to get filled up with all sorts of thoughts and emotions, we can lose our sense of track. We then need to take a few steps back and clear our minds to better process all these information. One of the ways to do so is by using correct breathing techniques. For the sake of being in the moment of things, we need a quick easy efficient method. Try to take a deep breath in, hold for a few seconds then let It all out slowly and mindfully. This step is just the beginning of the tricky but important process of being “okay” with your feelings.

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2. What and why

What comes first? labelling our emotions or understanding why these ones are particularly felt? “I think what I’m feeling is worry”

“I think I’m feeling worried because I’m a bit lost”

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I think these two ideas are interchangeable. They can come together or alone. The fact is that they come really quick in the spurge of the moment. The lesson here is to be able to take the time to figure out what are you feeling and why are you feeling it. A way to do so can be to check in with your thoughts or emotions about the situation. Let’s say we’re currently in January 2022 and you feel this type of way, you can’t seem to explain it but you just feel “off”. Now let’s check in with that.

Why do you think you feel that way?
Did something happen in these past few days that made you feel that way?
Maybe this time of year by itself triggers that feeling “off” switch?
Can we add other emotions to that list?

This way, you are beginning to be mindful of your emotions by understanding what they are and why they are felt. Which then leads up to acceptance.

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3. Acceptance

Today’s main keywords (take-aways) are: acceptance, validation, and reassurance. Which usually comes in, hand in hand. After we’ve took a step back to breathe and check-in with all sorts of emotions we’re experiencing, it’s time to focus on being okay with all of this. Like ending all the chapters of your favorite book you’ve been obsessed with for a while now, new year's feel the same (but much more intense, for some). It’s about the idea of new beginnings in general. Remember that your feelings should always be validated, even if you’re the only one who can offer that for yourself. It’s normal to slip up; we sometimes tend to be so hard on ourselves and that’s normal. By time, accepting and working on our emotions will come effortlessly.

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On that note, remember that we are all different. We are wired to react differently to situations depending on all the experiences we’ve been through. That is why associating ourselves with others will get us nowhere other than stuck in that constant loop of comparing our reactions with those of others. Let yourself feel. Feel all those extremes, mixed, and neutral emotions.

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