O'Hai, It's 2016!

Happy New Year!
As I'm on the west coast of the U.S., it actually is 2016 for everyone by the time this goes live (for only a few hours for some, for almost a whole day for others - time zones are weird, man).
2016 is pretty cool, because it's a round number. And I enjoy writing the number 6, much more than the number 5, so that's even better.
I hope your New Years celebrations were awesome, if you chose to celebrate. And if you just had a low-key evening in pajamas and with some cocoa or something, I hope that was enjoyable as well!

I am so ready to have 2015 done and dusted. As I've mentioned before, my 2015 wasn't really anything to be too excited about. There were some cool things, sure, but over all, I'd say it's kind of...meh.

But we have a new year to start! And that's fun!
You see, a New Year is like having a brand new notebook. 
It's blank and ready to go, but you still have all of your previous works and words to help mold what that new notebook is going to turn into. Sure, you can do something entirely new and different, but you are in no way going to be able to 100% abandon what you have previously been or done. That's just the way it is - our lives shape things as you go along, and while you can forget things (if you choose) that doesn't mean that they actually go away.

And that's kind of a cool thing.
A New Year isn't a fresh start, the slate is not wiped clean. You are not starting from scratch. You have all of your previous years still coming along. But, you can move forward in a new way. You can refresh, you can have a whited-out spread, but the remains of what has already happened aren't going anywhere.

To better illustrate, let me explain.
I've been art journaling in an ARC notebook, which means that I can take or add pages wherever and whenever I want to, and I got one of the portable Levenger disc-bound punches for Christmas (yay!), so I was finally able to take out the old stuff, and punch some new papers for a new start.
However, I'm still doing the same style of things, still writing trying to add the same kinds of things, and still using the same supplies.
It's new, but it's not outright a new thing or experience.

You can indeed do whatever you want with a New Year. But you cannot take away anything that has already happened. You cannot just turn around and be an entirely new person just because the calendar changed. It's just not that simple, while sometimes I wish it did.
Because, fairly often, I wish I were a different person. Someone who was more motivated and inspired, someone who was able to go out and do things without worrying about it, someone who could run to the store at 4 in the afternoon and not want to run people off the road for cutting me off and then going 10mph below the speed limit when I'm less than 50 feet from my apartment complex...or maybe that's just me!
Either way, I often think that I'd like to be different.

Then, sometimes (and, at this point, only sometimes - this is new for me!), I remember the kind of person that I am...someone who will not know what to do with themselves, so they will color in a page of cartoon characters found via Pinterest, or will bake dessert late at night because it sounds delicious, or who will watch Star Wars movies to help them fall asleep (I tend to use Episode 3 - not because it's boring and it puts me to sleep, but because I've seen it enough times I do not have to pay attention, and that helps me relax). Someone who has a shelf full of cool coffee cups of many different interests and someone who spends too much time watching YouTube but is still able to get other things done at the same time (because, you know, I'm watching YouTube as I write this). Someone who dressed up as Ash Ketchum for Halloween when they went to the DMV to get their driver's license (seriously, I did that, and it was awesome), and someone who wears Cookie Monster pajama bottoms and does not brush their hair every day.
I may not always be happy with the person that I am, but I also don't think I would be happy being someone that isn't, well, whatever the heck it is that I am.

So I am happy that a New Year does not mean an entirely new beginning. Because then I wouldn't have my coffee cups or my notebooks, my ridiculous amount of Pokemon cards or my video games.
But that also means I will be going into the New Year as the person who has a half sink full of dirty dishes, towels to fold from the dryer on the bed and who needs to remember to take more showers and who should have a much shorter list of things they want to have.
I'm okay with that.

Here's to 2016! 

~Havok