On "Year-Bashing"

     With only 19 days left to the year, we have already begun seeing all the memes and all the posts that serve no purpose other than to "year-shame," as it were.  You know the type-- the same thing happened last year.  I cannot say I am a fan of these, partly because I get so sick of seeing them by the 4th appearance of such a meme, and partly because I feel that they are not only useless, but harmful.  We hear people talk about "kindness," and "gratitude," about "positivity" and "self-care."  So tell me, how does this year-shaming reflect any of these popular virtues?
     I am not contradicting the fact that some years are more difficult than others.  This is not my point.  My point is that there is a difference between honesty (admitting that you have had a genuinely rough year due to illness, the death of a loved one, etc.) and purposeful, intentional, peer-pressure-driven complaining to the world at large.  Many things have made 2017 a hard year for me, but if I sit here and post fifty memes about it, that will only make my year worse, because I am making it cool to complain, which trivializes the value of real suffering.  It sets up a mask that says, "Life is so bad, haha, but I'm fine, really," and this can prevent dialogue by hardening-- not strengthening-- people.  This approach would also ignore all of the good things that have happened in the last year.  No matter how bad a year has been, it is not wholly without blessings-- you just need to look for them.  I am all for mourning when it is called for, but I think hardships, sorrow, and disappointment deserve more dignity than a meme can ever give.  Complain to your family, complain to your friends, complain to your coworkers.  Write the Facebook post that lets everyone in your life know that something difficult in going on in your life.  Just don't do it with a meme.  Your hardships and the hardships of others deserve more respect than that.
     Here's to making the next year a better one!  :)