Well, we blinked. And another year has come and gone.

So, with that, I believe I am supposed to say, Happy New Year!

Of course, I, for one, am not someone who celebrates the start of another year.

To me, it is just another day — not the beginning of something different.

I am that person who is usually asleep before midnight, the one who even if they are awake, does not watch the ball drop on television.

I can’t get excited over things like that. I’m sorry.

I have never been someone who pays tribute to a new year by attending a party.

I have never gone drinking with friends or went dancing with a date.

No, I do not believe how a new year is supposed to bring about new things.

You know, those better things which people say are yet to come.

Maybe once, long ago, I believed in that.

But life happened, and for me, nothing ever changed except for the number at the end of the date.

It’s kind of like believing in the possibilities of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus … but then you grow up only to discover differently.

Every time I had hope that the new year would bring about positive changes, exactly the opposite has happened.

So I stopped believing.

That same pile of bills still sits unopened in the mailbox.

The same dishes sit unwashed in the kitchen sink.

A new year doesn’t mean a clean slate like we wish it did.

The cupboards are still empty, the car still needs washed and the pets still need flea medicine.

Jan. 1 is simply a minute past 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31 in my corner of the world.

But what if it could be different?

What if it could be all that society conceives it to be?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could the begin another year with an actual new start?

One in which all of the debt that we owe would be erased?

One in which all of the people whom we’ve hurt — and who have hurt us this past year — all of those memories could be forgotten when we awoke Jan. 1?

And all would be right with the world.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we really did get to start every new year with an entirely new beginning?

The do-over that everyone has asked for at least a time or two in their life?

Sadly, that is not the case. But it’s a great thought.

I understand that a new year is supposed to bring you hope.

It is supposed to be that new start which we get in life.

It is a chance to make less mistakes.

Some people will try to lose weight.

They’ll begin one of the thousands of diets that are out there on the internet.

Perhaps they will join a gym or buy a piece of exercise equipment, even.

Some people will make a resolution to quit smoking.

They will buy a patch or an e-cigarette instead.

Maybe they will cut down the amount they smoke hoping it will lead to the time when they will no longer desire one.

Many people will make a resolution, and many people will break that resolution.

We are human after all.

Oh, for a while they will try. Do their best for a couple of weeks.

But by February, that sense of fulfilling your New Year’s resolution will have come and gone, and people will go back to their old ways.

Not in all cases, but in some.

For those of you who do make promises that you will try to do better and you actually succeed?

How I applaud you.

How I envy you.

How I truly wish that I was able to see the start of another new year the way you do.

How I wish.

If I were someone who made New Year’s resolutions, I wonder what I would promise myself to do differently this year than in years past?

In reality, that answer would be … everything.

We all wish we could go back and change something about our past, that we could relive a particular moment and do it differently.

But what-ifs do not change anything, do they?

I suppose if I were to make a resolution, I would make more of an attempt to find somebody who could truly love me.

After all, isn’t that what we all want?

But as I’ve said before, unless Prince Charming comes knocking on my front door, I am never going to find him.

I don’t go anywhere. I don’t do anything.

I said it before and I will say it again, I don’t visit bars or night clubs because I don’t drink.

I don’t go to dance clubs because I don’t dance.

I won’t go to a restaurant by myself because that is rather embarrassing; and I don’t have any friends who can set me up with someone they think would be an acceptable match for me.

So no, wanting to locate someone who is compatible for me would not be my resolution of choice.

Besides, I have been blessed with three beautiful boys whom I love dearly. I’ve had my family.

Perhaps some of you can understand that. Perhaps some of you are in that same type of situation.

You have just grown accustomed to being alone. And you are content with that, even though once in a while, it does get lonely.

Talking to a chair isn’t all it is cracked up to be.

No, resolutions are not for everyone.

The start of another year isn’t something that everyone looks forward to celebrating. And that’s OK.

I am right there with you, although I will do my best to try and make this a halfway decent year.

But I am not going to get my hopes up.

I am not going to live in an imaginary world where I believe this is going to be a wonderful year for me, that great things are going to come my way and that everything will turn around and life will be perfect.

All because it is a new year.

All because we changed a “4” into a “5.”

That has never been the case and I’m pretty sure it never will be.

I will attempt to do my best to try and be a better person and a kinder person to everybody.

I guess in the end, that is a resolution which we all should make.

And it is one we could pretty much stick to … even after January has come and gone.

Whatever your New Year’s resolution may be, I pray that you achieve it.

I hope you are able to stop smoking, lose weight, find a better job, go back to school or volunteer more.

I hope you are capable of drinking less caffeine, spending more time with your children, making new friends and becoming a better person.

And I will do my best to be kinder to people.

Yes, it may only be another day, but it is a new year.

So, maybe we should try to make it as good of one as it can possibly be.

Happy New Year.

(Stenger is the community editor for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.She can be contacted at jstenger@heraldstaronline.com.)