10 things I learned about New Years, writes Shweta Bachchan Nanda

2016 is here and as is with most things eagerly anticipated, already letting us down. Expectation, truly, is the mother of disappointment. The electric buzz leading up to your midnight countdown has just about fizzled out. We have had the weekend to recover and it’s back to where we started, in my case, again in front of a blank screen, brainstorming, but actually getting nothing much done. I am still in my pyjamas and it’s well past mid-day, I have no excuses, it’s pure and simple sloth! 

Actually, does it count if your body is inactive but your mind is in  a frenetic whirl? Well, it should. Having lost sleep over many existential issues over the past few days, such as — are peanut M&M’s healthier than chocolate ones (they have dry fruits in them)? I have drawn up a list of 10 things the New Year has taught me thus far (inspired by the hysterical, concise and fantastic lists of my friend Prashant Hingorani)...

1. Lists are damn good ideas (especially when you’re in your 40s and your memory is not as co-operative as it once was). Make many lists, they will serve you well. 
2. The gym is always full (with determined folk, resolved to “get fit in 2016”) the first week of the New Year, so it is best to avoid going. Take a walk outdoors instead or play a sport. 
3. Our armed forces do a mighty fine job of protecting us and we would do well to celebrate and honour them more than we do. They are our true heroes. 
4. No one wants to hear bad news right at the beginning of the year, but guess what? Life’s not fair that way. Deal with it. 
5.Only the very optimistic,  naïve or very young make New Year resolutions anymore (the rest are busy breaking the ones they made last year).
6. If I get one more group message where the numbers 2016 are written entirely in emojis, I will not only block that person, they may get my choicest …
7. Anything you wore for your New Year’s eve party, as a rule of thumb, will need to go to the dry cleaners the next day. Save money, wear pyjamas and stay in bed instead!
8. Procrastination is at its peak on the lead-up to New Year's, but at its lowest the week after. Proof that the holidays are significant and important (for all those Grinches out there that bitch and moan about the commercialisation of holidays — if by commercialisation, you mean better organised, then yes).
9. Teenagers never stick to their deadlines on New Year’s Eve, so don’t bother having them. Either that or ground them! One less hormonal young person polluting the atmosphere with their infernal EDM isn’t a bad thing altogether. 
10. When speaking of deadlines, the ones you talk to your children about and the ones your parents talk to you about (as they age) are two entirely different things. So pay attention and take out time for them. They aren’t getting younger and one day, you will regret being too busy being stuck in traffic to and from your respective parties to have spent the evening with them. 

Have a happy and mindful New Year!