The end of the year is associated with New Year’s Eve festivities, alcohol and fireworks all over the world. However, not everyone wants to spend the final minutes of the past year in a large company counting down the seconds to midnight in an alcoholic intoxication. In addition, the end of the year represents a psychologically demanding period for many. Many people prefer to spend the holidays in seclusion.
“For me, New Year’s Eve is a terribly artificial day that people somehow magically fixate on, but at the same time the celebrations around it are very superficial. They automatically have fun, they celebrate for maybe five hours straight, then they stop for ten minutes around midnight, have a drink, and they celebrate, for example, for another five hours in the same morning. Most people around me take the celebration rather superficially, rather than really taking stock or giving the last minutes or seconds of the last year any real value,” says 32-year-old PR manager Monika Hořínková.
He prefers to spend the last day of the year in nature, away from people and noisy celebrations. What bothers her the most about New Year’s Eve is pyrotechnics. “I believe that the celebrations could be just as nice without all the fireworks and firecrackers, which are very intolerant of animals, both our pets, farm animals and wild animals. In addition to calming our dog down all night, we have already had several that, for example, we helped look for runaway animals or escort a frightened herd of game,” he describes.
Pyrotechnics also bothers another dog lover – PR manager at the creative agency Jakub Fajnor. Years ago, he and his wife adopted a female from the shelter, who is usually distressed by fireworks. “She tries to hide in places where she can’t even climb, she barks and howls non-stop. And she won’t let us help her,” describes the dog’s desperation.
Firecrackers are banned in Prague, but…
The resident of the Czech capital also criticizes the fact that people here violate the ban on the use of fireworks. “And to such an extent that even the police officers prefer to ignore the violation, because they wouldn’t even have time to hand out all the fines. And it’s not only the animals in our homes, but also the animals that live all around us that take the brunt of it. I’m not looking forward at all to entering the New Year’s and there will be talk of how many swans on the Vltava took away the crazy celebrations,” says the thirty-year-old.
Journalist Josef Greš is bothered by fireworks for sensitive ears: “Endless cracking and mandatory mass rejoicing just somehow doesn’t match my nature,” he says. The last day of the year is thus one of his least favorite periods, he celebrates Easter, November 17 and Christmas much more joyfully.
“Since childhood, I don’t like saying goodbye – the feeling that something is ending. I remember that as a very small boy I used to cry on New Year’s Eve. Just because of the feeling that something is leaving that will never come back. I didn’t mind looking forward to the new year, for all that it promises and will bring, I was only sorry to part with the old one. Watching the clock tick down and fatefully measure the time left before something dissipated… Well, it also meant that the end of the Christmas holidays is approaching and the day after tomorrow he will go back to school. That the daily program will no longer include skates, skis, cross-country skis, hockey sticks, but a bag, pencil case and notebooks,” explains the fifty-year-old.
Alcohol intoxication because “that’s how it’s done”
Businessman Matouš Vinš does not particularly like the ubiquitous alcohol intoxication on New Year’s Eve. “In general, I don’t like celebrations where alcohol is at the center of everything. When you drink just because “that’s the way it’s done”. I also have comparisons with many other countries in the world, and in the Czech Republic the role of alcohol is extreme. Just how supermarkets sometimes from the middle of December, they will start subtly replacing the Christmas shelves in the most exposed places with a display of bottles, mostly of hard alcohol, I find it quite scary,” he says.
Like other respondents, he also dislikes fireworks. “I already perceive publicly organized fireworks as an absolutely unnecessary waste of money, regardless of the impact on the environment and the mess that remains after them. But at least the fireworks last a few minutes and end, and above all, they are all led, I hope, by sober professionals and in a safely secured space. Unfortunately, neither can be said about homemade pyrotechnics,” he explains.
However, he sees New Year’s Eve as a good opportunity to recap the past year. “I will always make enough time for myself and time with my wife so that we can look back on the past year, relive gratitude for everything that went well and everything that was good. And at the same time learn from what may not have gone completely well, ” describes the twentysomething.
“I have to celebrate because everyone is celebrating”
Kristýna Jedličková, a consultant in the field of science for a multinational company, is in one round during the year, so she prefers to spend New Year’s Eve alone at home. “Honestly, for the last few years I prefer to spend the last day of the year in peace alone and go to bed at ten in the evening. During the year I am scattered and every year seems more hectic than the previous one, so I enjoy the peace on the last day of the year and I don’t need to celebrate it in any way,” she explains .
Alexandra Klestilová, a mother of three small children, holds a similar opinion. “It bothers me that on New Year’s Eve one has to have a program and do something special. Mainly have fun or do something unusual. Go somewhere, be with friends. But it’s true that things have changed a lot for me after we had children. Suddenly it was annoying for me to wait until midnight and force myself to drink when I’m used to going to bed at ten at night,” she says.
Journalist Petra Škraňková also has a similar distaste for the expected merriment: “I have to celebrate, because everyone is celebrating, I have to stay until after midnight, because I have to drink at midnight, otherwise… And I have to have fun, because it’s a huge party, the last day. ” The end of the year is rather depressing for her. “That’s why I don’t understand why I should celebrate it. But it seems to me that society expects it,” she reflects.
Psychotherapist Adam Suchý confirms that the turn of the old and new year is psychologically challenging for many people. “For some, it’s a tense and sensitive period, a time of taking stock, remembering losses, being aware of the next year and the year that ‘gone by so fast again,'” he says. According to him, people who are alone can then feel like they are failing because they should be with someone.
Psychotherapist: The turn of the year is a critical period
“On the first of January, most people take their own lives. The year has passed, it could have been very difficult, people rejoice, make resolutions, social networks are full of beauty and happiness, but especially depressed people may not see any hope – so why start another painful year ?” explains Suchý. According to experts, the next difficult period is spring. “Everything blossoms, it becomes clear, but if someone feels that they are not capable of this, the gap between others may begin to seem too deep and insurmountable,” he adds.
He himself has a rather lukewarm relationship to New Year’s Eve celebrations. “The older I get, the less importance I attach to it, I no longer need to experience the best New Year’s Eve in the world. I also no longer think that I will wake up in the new year and everything will be different. I still need to reduce the Christmas circus, it still seems too oversized, ” he admits.
“We act as if the strictest control should come from the Ministry of Christmas, and we just had to have everything according to the guidelines and regulations. But it’s another reason why some people don’t like the end of the year – it spits out, it’s exhausted physically, mentally and financially, the pressure grips us from all sides, at work, at home, from advertisements and the environment, and the last task comes into this: ‘And now let’s have a beautiful Christmas!'” Suchý glosses.
And how does he recommend making the end of the year more pleasant? “There is no holiday prescription, the end of the year will be all the more pleasant the more we manage to spend it according to our own needs and wishes. Nothing has to be perfect, showy or perfect. The end of the year is not just one evening by the tree and another with champagne, it is the whole period. Relax, stop, play games or sports, travel or sit at home, simply as you please. And don’t look at the news, on mobile phones, work or talk about politics for a while,” he appeals.
