New Year’s Eve is typically seen as one of the biggest nights on the social calendar – but for Stylist’s Lauren Geall, it’s nothing but a frustrating occurrence.

On the whole, I’m someone who enjoys going out. I definitely have those moments where all I want to do is lie on the sofa and watch the day go by, but I get a lot of joy from spending time with friends and dancing the night away to the cheesiest music I can find. But out of all the nights on the calendar, there’s one I absolutely can’t stand: New Year’s Eve.

It may be sold as ‘the big one’ – the night to let go, have fun and welcome in the new year – but to me, New Year’s Eve is one of those occasions that is seriously overrated. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll usually get involved in some way or another, whether that’s by spending the night with friends at home or going out to a pub. But I just don’t get the hype.  

Not only is New Year’s Eve exorbitantly expensive (does anyone really feel OK with the prospect of paying £50 to get into a sweaty, overcrowded venue?) and typically anticlimactic, but it also falls at an incovenient time. 

After a week’s worth of drinking and socialising with friends and family, going on a big night out is often the last thing I want to do. 

Then there’s the sentimentality that comes with it. On a normal night, you’re rarely faced with questions about your plans for the next year or the resolutions you’ve made – but on New Year’s Eve, you can’t expect to get by without a handful of probing questions. 

And to top it all off, the night is usually accompanied by a healthy dose of new year anxiety.  

“If that’s the case, why do you even bother?” I hear you ask, and it’s a valid question. But despite my disdain for how overpriced and overhyped New Year’s Eve is, the pressure to have a good time makes the prospect of not partaking seem even scarier. 

The FOMO is, as they say, very real, and while I’m not a fan of New Year’s Eve as a whole, I don’t want to turn down the opportunity to have fun with friends and family.

So, while I don’t exactly get the hype around New Year’s Eve, I’ve made it my mission to spend the night doing something that makes me feel good. 

This year, I’ll be spending it having drinks and playing games with a couple of friends. And while it may not be as loud and spectacular as a stereotypical New Year’s Eve, it’ll suit me nicely. 

Images: Getty

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