Anticipating a New Year & New Beginnings

How is 2022 almost here?

4 min readDec 17, 2021

This article is part of the column Overthinking Everything at She Explores Life.

Shifting from one year to the next is always a bit strange. It’s a transition that calls for a raw, sentimental kind of contemplation. And if you’re like me and already prone to overthinking 365 days a year, the arrival of a new year and new beginnings can be a bit overwhelming.

While trying to wrap my mind around the coming of 2022, I’ve gone through a mix of emotions. I’m both excited and nervous about a new beginning. But more than anything, I’m struggling to overcome my disbelief. I mean seriously, how did we get to 2022? Something about it still seems almost mythical. The year once sounded so far away. It was a safe place to rest my hope. But in a matter of days 2022 will be here and with it comes a voice in my head asking, “Am I really where I’d thought I’d be by now?”

I suppose it’s natural, inevitable even, for us to ask ourselves these kinds of questions as we anticipate the year’s end. The end of one year and the start of another marks a clear passage of time that we can’t ignore. Though something about the onset of 2022 feels different.

Longing for New Beginnings But…

I remember the eagerness I felt last year on New Year’s Eve. I longed for a fresh start after 2020’s tumultuous reign. But now I wonder if part of me may still be stuck in 2020. Time keeps moving but I haven’t fully moved on with it. I’m still looking into the past, desperate to grasp the time I’ve lost amongst the mess of my fuzzy memories.

I have to wonder if I’d still feel this way if it weren’t for the pandemic. Initially, I’d like to say no but with further consideration I know the pandemic isn’t solely to blame. This tension between past and present has always existed. There is something that pulls us against the grain. A kinetic force of sorts. It keeps us turning our heads backward and forward, oftentimes missing what is directly in front of us.