Uy: Chinese New Year

PEOPLE often ask me the difference between Chinese New Year and the traditional “English” New Year. The truth of the matter is that I’m as lost as everyone else. For me, it’s just another reason to gather together and eat (we don’t really subscribe to all the histrionics that follow). I mean, if eating noodles on that day is a sign of longevity, then I should be basically immortal now with all the ramen and mein I regularly consume over the course of a year. I jest that maybe Chinese New Year affords me an extra three-week buffer before I start my New Year’s Resolutions, since after all I am Chinese by blood. It’s not that I haven’t followed through with my resolutions; it’s just that I am waiting for the right time to do it, folks.

Okay, back to regular programming.

Aside from all the traditions and trappings that go along with CNY (lion/dragon/panda dances?), I always get a kick listening to astrologists consulting the heavens and our horror...horoscopes on what we should do for the year. Last I read, my kind (year of the Snake) should lie low and watch out for shady business deals and people who will fool us—as if these are not things that regular folks who are not Snake people should not watch out for. It’s the Chinese version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition; people rearrange their houses in the hope that it will foster a better qi flow and thus bring them better luck and success. Well, yes, assuming that it’s the qi that flows in and out and not the smell of week-old laundry.

That was the last (bad) joke, I promise.

I don’t know how many people actually believe that they are either blessed or cursed because of the sign they were born on. However, this should not be an excuse to be (wrongly) fatalistic and listlessly accept the hand that fate has, allegedly, played us. There are still going to be ebbs and flows with the year to come, and our challenge is to stick it as close to the middle as possible. If bad things happen, try your best to ride it out until it levels back to normal. If good things happen, savor the moment, but don’t be surprised when your general mood returns back to around a seven out of 10—things are good, but things could be better. Respect these changes and focus on what you can actually control now: your work ethic, your headspace and your emotions.

Master these to the best of your abilities, and you won’t have to be so worried over a BuzzFeed article warning Year of the Ox people not to eat cheesecake for 2020 lest they want to be cursed with seven years’ worth of bad luck.

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