The New Year’s blues are real!

Ever dropped “New Year’s blues” in conversation and watched people look at you like you just invented a new colour?

That’s exactly what happened when I mentioned it to my tiny social circle (yes, all two of them).

Apparently, everyone thinks I’m out here coining phrases like I’m some sort of millennial Shakespeare.

But I didn’t. I thought it was just one of those terms we objectively know and understand, like Monday blues and birthday blues.

So, if we’ve collectively agreed that Monday blues and birthday blues are legit emotional states, why are we gatekeeping seasonal melancholy?

I’m starting to think we could make a killing inventing new types of blues.

The no-way-it-costs-that-much blues™, anyone?

Adulting sucks – and I’m new here.

While some might dismiss the New Year’s blues as a made-up condition, those who’ve experienced it know its weight.

I found myself confronting these blues as the sun completed its orbit and we were about to celebrate 2024 coming to an end.

ALSO READ: Happy new year? I think we all know what’s going to happen

The feeling wasn’t entirely unexpected. It crept in gradually, fueled by an incomplete vision board and goals that remained frustratingly out of reach.

Some might call them ambitious, perhaps even unrealistic, but they were mine, carefully crafted and desperately sought after.

Picture this: there I was, staring at my Pinterest vision board, which looked more like a collection of ambitious fever dreams than achievable goals.

Some of those goals were definitely reaching – like, “touch the stars” reaching, but hey, shoot for the moon and all that jazz, right?

Time is a thief. Tessi Nandi did not lie, and well whoever said that before her.

The sneaky little thief seemed to be running a marathon while I was still tying my shoelaces.

The impending new year wasn’t so much a fresh start as it was that friend who shows up to the party way too early while you’re still getting ready.

I needed more time, I thought, as if the calendar would suddenly grow an extra month called Decembuary just for me.

Unfortunately for myself and those around me, I still do think I’m special because Grandma said so.

Let’s be honest though, I saw this coming.

Some of those goals were about as realistic as my plans to start meal prepping (spoiler alert: I may or may not be friends with the cashier lady at the Gandhi Square KFC franchise – that’s right, I’m proud of the little walking exercises I occasionally swapped with UberEats).

I did manage to tick off a few boxes from my Disney vision board. Small victories are still victories, even if they’re not Instagram-worthy transformations.

ALSO READ: The power of New Year overrated

As we navigate through 2025, maybe the trick isn’t to outrun these blues but to embrace them like that one relative who hugs too long at family gatherings.

They’re not just post-holiday depression or winter melancholy; they’re a natural response to the pressure we place on ourselves at year’s end.

The key might be recognising that while the new year symbolises fresh beginnings, it doesn’t need to mark the end of ongoing journeys.

After all, our personal growth stories don’t reset at midnight on New Year’s Eve – they simply turn to a new chapter, carrying forward both our accomplishments and our works in progress.

Think of that Netflix series you’re binge-watching – the episodes just keep rolling, regardless of what time it is.

Maybe that’s exactly what we need to remember when the New Year’s blues come knocking.

That and the fact that it’s totally okay if your “new year, new me” takes a few months to download.