Well hi there,
New Year’s Eve is a liminal space. Everyone’s a little sentimental, a little buzzed, and suddenly convinced that texting someone from the past counts as closure or growth.
It doesn’t.
Midnight doesn’t make people braver or clearer — it just lowers inhibition and raises nostalgia. Which is how perfectly fine people end up ringing in the new year by reopening something they already survived.
This is your New Year’s Eve Texting Rule. Not to make you boring. To keep you from confusing a moment with a mandate.
Let’s get into it.
– Team Necterine
THE CONTEXT
Why New Year’s Eve makes everyone delusional
NYE compresses a lot into a few hours: hope, endings, pressure, and the very human fear of crossing into a new year alone.
So we text:
the ex who still knows our soft spots
the situationship we never really closed
the person who always reappears right when we’re about to move on
Not because we want them — but because we want the feeling of being chosen at a symbolic moment.
That’s not romance. That’s timing plus adrenaline.
THE RULE
One night. One text. One outcome.
On New Year’s Eve, you get one intentional text — total.
Before you send it, ask:
If they respond exactly how I expect, will I feel steadier or worse tomorrow?
Is this about connection, or about not wanting to feel left out at midnight?
Would I send this at 2pm on a Tuesday?
If the answer to that last one is no, pause.
Midnight is not consent to reopen dynamics that couldn’t hold daylight.
THE TOOL
The NYE Texting Filter
Greenlight the text only if:
You’d be okay with any response (including none)
You’re not hoping it changes the trajectory of your year
You’re not outsourcing your New Year’s optimism to their reply
Yellow light if:
You’re bored, tipsy, or spiraling
You’re romanticizing “what if”
You’re telling yourself “it’s just a check-in”
Red light if:
This person disappears once real life resumes
You’d need a follow-up text to feel okay
You already know how this ends
Be honest — who are you most tempted to text on New Year’s Eve?
THE REFRAME
Starting the year “clean” isn’t about who you kiss at midnight
It’s about what you don’t drag into January out of habit.
You don’t need a perfect moment to mark growth.
You need consistency on a random Wednesday in February.
If someone belongs in your next chapter, they’ll show up without a countdown clock.
And if they don’t? That’s not a loss. That’s clarity arriving early.
The best New Year’s Eve texts don’t come from nostalgia — they come from presence.
Be where you are. Let the year open without reopening what already closed.
Midnight will pass either way. You get to decide what follows it.
xoxo,
Team Necterine
P.S. Know someone who could use this newsletter? Forward this to them.
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Our mission is to redefine connection by celebrating every interaction. We provide tools and experiences that empower our users to discover themselves through the spectrum of relationships, from fleeting encounters to lifelong partnerships.
