As 2016 comes to a close and the holiday season is almost wrapped up, I’ve noticed a lot of negativity amongst people when looking back at the year we have just experienced. The amount of posts I have seen on various social media platforms talking about how excited people are for 2016 to end or how 2016 “just needs to stop” is overwhelming. However I think people fail to remember that 2016 is just a point in time, and while it may be used to mark significant life events this year has no real impact on the circumstances of these events. 2016 is not the reason these things happen, they just happen in 2016.

Most recently a shocking number of celebrities have been dying in the past month or so, which has been a large factor prompting people to take to their social media pages cursing 2016 for doing this to the world. I don’t know if people think 2016 is capable of making people die, but I’m quite certain that the year in time usually doesn’t cause death. Even aside from all the celebrity deaths, 2016 is not the reason you and your S.O. broke up or reason your job isn’t heading in the direction you wanted. I especially don’t believe that 2016 was lurking in the shadows on New Year’s Eve last year thinking, “Oh boy, they have no idea what kind of hell I’m going to put them through.”

If this year did not live up to your expectations then the only finger to point should be directed at yourself. It’s not about the year, it’s about the person. If the person wants to get in shape or get serious about their career then they are the only person who can make that happen for themselves. We choose to see life as something that happens to us, something that is out of our control, when in reality life is entirely shaped by our desires and ambition. If someone is unhappy with the path their life has started to take then they have to be the ones who are enacting change within it. They can’t keep saying “I’ll start at the New Year.” If they want their life to get better they have to be proactive the second they realize their life is not turning out exactly how they want it. If they choose to wait until the beginning of the year, they are probably not going to be able to keep up with their resolutions anyway.

I think the thing we have to remember is that this year occurred just like any other, and at the beginning we were equally as optimistic as we are now for 2017. If people will allow their opinion of 2016 to be so heavily impacted by celebrity deaths or frustrating relationships, than they did not make any meaningful memories or have any eye-opening experiences this year, and that is completely on them. This year was going to happen whether we wanted it to or not, what occurs within it is where we have choices to make and a duty to allow our voices to be heard.