NYers share their hopes, resolutions for the New Year in a pandemic that’s growing old
Spend more time with family and friends. Cultivate a new talent. Cut back on social media.
Resilient New Yorkers bracing for their third calendar year of COVID-19 prepared to greet the New Year with a sense of optimism and hope, intent on making personal strides while dealing with the ongoing pandemic. Few had big plans Friday to actually ring in 2022, with most planning to celebrate with family and friends.
And the annual Times Square ball drop, scaled down by the omicron variant, was a total non-starter.
“Times Square is where you go as a teenager,” said Max Schulman, 35, a Brooklyn resident. “If you live in New York, you go to Times Square like once, and then you’re like, ‘It’s too crowded.’”
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Ava Skinner, 27, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, said her resolution was reconnecting with relatives.
“To try and be a little more present and more grateful about the people in my life,” she said. “It’s been a turbulent year for relationships, so I just want to be more grateful for the people in my life.”
Skinner said the pandemic created roadblocks to friendship, with its lingering presence sucking some of the life out of the city.
“It feels like we’re in repeat mode with the pandemic, but (I’m) just trying to stay positive,” she said.
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Prospect Park researcher Dana Lee, 30, plans to devote 30 minutes each day on a new pursuit ― although she’s still uncertain about what to choose.
“I feel it’s hard for me to pick one that I really want to focus on,” she said. “Maybe picking up tennis lessons, or learning Chinese more ... I started and stopped a lot, so I just need to commit to it more.”
Her friend David Sykes, a Brooklyn product manager, planned to cut back his time on Instagram to 20 minutes a day and find something new to occupy himself.
“Read more, exercise more, and learn a skill,” said Sykes, 32. “I want to learn to draw, so I’m going to try to take 30 minutes a day and learn to draw ... It’s good to have a creative hobby, and right now I don’t feel like I have one. I feel like a lot of my work is numbers.”
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Chuncy Moore had no time to waste making resolutions as the clock ticked toward a new year.
“I believe in solutions, but not resolutions,” he said outside a Union Square furniture store while taking a cigarette break. “Resolutions aren’t wills, just wishes.”
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Pals Haley Clark and Melanie Castillo of Brooklyn both said 2022 was a year for people to get real about life and friendship.
“Living authentically,” said Castillo, 26, an elementary school art teacher. “I think it’s just the recognition of your own wants and needs, and putting yourself first through them. And being able to share it with people in a genuine way, to build those deeper connections.”
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Cabbie Sher Khan, 67, had no time to pontificate on the new year’s arrival. He was hoping instead for a busy night with plenty of fares before and after the clock strikes midnight. The pandemic has crippled business for a second straight year on the busy holiday, and he wondered more about the hours ahead than the next 12 months.
“The subways were totally empty on my way over tonight,” he said. “So with the virus, you just have to keep safe.”
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Bay Ridge project manager Simon Mattieu, a 41-year-old husband and father of two, hopes to travel as a family this year after getting vaccinated and receiving his booster shot. Plans for 2022 included trips to North Carolina, Indianapolis and Chicago.
“Just traveling more after two years of not doing much. Now that we’re vaccinated, we’ll resume our normal life now that it’s been two years,” he said.
Postal worker Mary Ann, who was heading to her last building of the day on E. 15th St., had a simple resolution.
“I just want to live. You can’t even plan anything now,” she said.
“You just want to wake up safe.”
