Just like most twenty-something year olds out there, my friends and I love a good party. As a matter of fact, we live for them. No matter where life takes us during the week when responsibility occupies the forefronts of our minds, the weekend lends us the opportunity to follow our hearts. And more often than not, our hearts lead us straight to the dance floor.
It should come as no surprise that we couldn’t wait for the biggest bash of them all: New Year’s Eve. When we began planning this year’s festivities, we did our research – looking up every venue in LA to find the perfect party, from the wonders of West Hollywood to the depths of Downtown and all the dance floors in between. But for some reason, nothing truly resonated with us. As glamorous as themes like “Old Hollywood” and “The Roaring Twenties” sounded, we were all hoping for something more fun and less fancy. So, what do you do when you can’t find a party that sparks your interest? Throw your own, of course.
This year, we traded in debonair for disco. Twirling neon lights reflected off of long metallic streamers we hung from the ceilings that swayed to the vibrations of the synth anthems glaring from our speakers. Together, my friends and I transformed a two-bedroom apartment into a makeshift discotheque and crafted the evening of our dreams with as much scotch tape as we had spirit. Laughter and confetti filled the air as we celebrated the beginning of a new era with as much nostalgia in our hearts as we had hope for the future.
Champagne toasts and gold-rimmed Polaroids aside, however, the most vivid, poignant moment I experienced this New Year’s Eve took place the afternoon before it. Surrounded by islands of glitter and millions of balloons mingling above me, I stood in the center of the living room with a giant disco ball in my hands before I hung it up. As the last rays of the decade dimmed their shine and dusk made its grand entrance, I paused and soaked in a final moment to myself.
There in front of me, I saw myself in a new light. As I held the centerpiece of our night in my hands, my reflection stared back at me in so many different little shapes and colors – warped, distorted and broken up into a thousand pieces of tiny, mirrored glass.
Never did I think a disco ball could make me feel small and vulnerable. But for once in my life, feeling little was liberating – even humbling. Seeing traces of myself in a round sea of miniature silver squares, I realized what a small place I occupy in this life, and that the world I live in is much larger than I am. It’s so easy to place ourselves on a pedestal – to put ourselves first and to view ourselves as these mighty beings around which the world revolves. But in reality, we inhabit such a small speck of space in the universe – like a piece of glass in a disco ball. Acknowledging this truth might encourage us to place less pressure on ourselves to live up to a standard larger than we truly are. We’re all just tiny pieces of light trying to shine on the dance floor that is life – and when we’re modest enough to realize that, perhaps that’s when we can shine our most vibrantly.
As it seems, I was looking so forward to the party itself, and yet the time we took to set up is what shaped my intentions the most powerfully for the coming year:
I hope that we all embrace those shifts in perspective and vision that catch us off-guard, that open our eyes to the true essence of our being. Those moments when we find ourselves face-to-face with a disco ball rather than below one for a change, and see ourselves in a dimension that is colorful and glimmering, small and infinite.
I hope that when we don’t love the parties life offers us, we throw our own – and dance to the beat of our own playlists with pride and joy.
I hope we see that no matter how much time passes, some things never change. (There we were belting “Dancing Queen” in the year twenty-twenty, after all).
I hope we gain the clarity to understand we don’t need a dance floor to feel like we’re on one. Sometimes the song in our souls is just enough.
And lastly, I hope we are always surrounded by people we love, who will never let us dance on our own. Those who will keep us thriving on the dance floor, and bask in the light beneath the disco ball alongside us.
To the promise of this year and many more to follow…
Happy New Year!
Yours, Always,
