As I scroll through my Instagram feed at the end of the year, I see more and more memes along the lines of "2022: January, February... summer, winter". My inbox is full of these memes that we send back and forth to our friends - each one more fitting than the last. Once again, modern meme culture has captured a phenomenon: 2022 doesn't seem to have collectively felt like a marathon to us, but rather a really fast sprint. We've barely blinked three times and it's already Christmas. It's kind of crazy how so many different people can perceive the same period of a year in a similar way. And now, as the year draws to a close and we inevitably fall into the usual reflective mood, this seems to be particularly noticeable once again.
For this last article of the year for JUNGLÜCK magazine, I have given a lot of thought to what it could be about. Do we need another review of a year in which so many negative and shocking events have swept the media landscape and our private lives? Are there any words at all that are appropriate at this time? Words that can convey general hope and joy for the new year?
I think that you and all other readers will carry very individual feelings, hopes, fears, dreams and plans into the next year. You know best what your thoughts are at the end of the year. That's why I don't want to go into the usual New Year's resolution topics here, or deliver a monologue about JUNGLÜCK milestones achieved in 2022 (even though there would be plenty to talk about). I would rather talk about something that particularly connects us these days: Time.
Sense of time in 2022
After the coronavirus restrictions of recent years, a little more joie de vivre returned in 2022. More and more freedom, social gatherings and a sea of leisure options - almost like before. And at the same time, dramatic scenes are unfolding in the world.
Political situations are coming to a head, states of emergency, states of distress, freedom is coming to an abrupt end. And what about us? We live in a balancing act between happy prosperity and persistent world-weariness. Time stands still and then runs away all the faster. Moments have been lived, many days have been experienced and time has been really felt, in the here and now. And maybe that's why our feelings of time are somehow together in the end, no longer as lonely as in previous years. And time becomes a feeling that we share, not a method of measurement, a time or a calendar year.
A year with a lot of life
A year in which so much has happened. For you, for me, for everyone. Beautiful, sad, important, right, breathtaking, "holding the world in its breath"... And perhaps it is not in our power to determine our own feelings about time. And we will never be able to stop time. But it is up to you how you want to shape your time - a reminder that this year has given us. Because despite all the negativity, upheaval and tragedy that is happening in the world - or perhaps precisely because of it - we have used 2022 to live.
We filled it with people, with festivals, with good food and sport, with bar visits, family celebrations and packed travel bags. We experienced a lot, from days with good friends to nights with strangers who became confidants. We danced, laughed, hugged, kissed and sought new closeness. We were able to explore the world again, stand in the middle of waves and crowds. And even before all that, we were able to see the moments when we could breathe, when we wanted to be grateful and keep our eyes closed to capture the feeling of time, to hold solid and, before it flies off again, to simply shift down a gear for the moment.
"Time flies when you're having fun" - open your eyes and we're back in the hottest leisure time stress in a long time. And together, each of us fills the days, weeks and months with life. Quietly and unnoticed, time glides by and it's already December and I'm sitting in my kitchen, writing these lines and feeling completely connected to you and everyone out there. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, because I would like to frame and hang up this feeling of time, this play of emotions. As a daily reminder that we are free to shape our lives and that, after all the distance and deprivation, we can find common ground even in something as abstract as "time".
And before we dive into the new year, there is only one thing left to say: have a good time.
