When the winter seasons roll around, there is one thing on everyone’s mind: Christmas. Christmas is all well and good from a childlike perspective, but what is it really for adults who have to pay for the holiday? Christmas can get incredibly expensive for those paying for gifts for either a child or a family. There’s so much stress: decorations, traveling and preparation all of which goes into celebrating it. The price of doing anything for Christmas is high and makes the holiday incredibly stressful.

As a broke college student, Christmas brings me nothing but trouble. I can be more of an introvert, and at the end of the day, I need to lay down and let my battery recharge. The thing with Christmas is that it’s an all day event. And not just all one day, we’re talking two days. We’ve got Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day. This ends up being a two-day event from morning till night, possibly running from place to place to see family members. It puts a mental strain on everyone, not to mention the amounts of stress and preparation that goes before these two days.

However, unlike Christmas, there’s something special about New Year’s. It is truly a once-a-year event. You can choose to celebrate holidays any time of the year, but something like celebrating a new year, that only happens once. The passage of time can be slow for some and too fast for many, but taking a moment to reflect on the year as it passes by is so relieving.

New Year’s is wonderful because you do not have to plan for anything. You can plan for the new year, yes, but you can celebrate it quietly by yourself. There’s no stress, there are no presents and there are no obligations. I could sit quietly alone, watching the time tick by till it’s a new day. There is so much electric tension in the air as the clock slows down. It gives you perspective.

I am slowing down, I am considering the time that’s gone by and the time to come. Everyone on the planet is experiencing it with me. What could be a new day for someone is an old one for me. Nothing changes when the time goes past 12, yet everything does. Setting yourself up for a whole new year is like sweeping out the failures of the past. It is refreshing. Not to mention my absolute favorite thing: the fireworks.

We only get to see fireworks twice a year, and sometimes only once. New Year’s Eve is about those lovely sparkling lights that flash up in the sky. They’re loud, they’re colorful and they’re also a fire hazard. They ring in the new year. They scream to the heavens letting everyone know the clock has finally reset on a new year and all the faults of last year have come to an end.

New Year’s Eve comes with so much potential. What will you make of yourself in the new year? Asking this question is difficult, but it is the potential of the question. A new year is something everyone can experience and has to experience in their own way. No one can stop the earth from turning no matter how hard we try, and that is something connecting each and every one of us. There is nothing but potential in the future, and New Year’s celebrates that.