Lost Celebrities, Terrorism, And A Turbulent Election – People Have Had Enough Of 2016
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A lot of people have been calling 2016 'the worst year ever.'
"Uh, it's been pretty crazy," Tom Zhong told CBS2's Valerie Castro.
For one reason or another, many people seem to think 2016 was exceptionally bad.
"Yeah it was terrible, personally and publicly," Lauren Anderson said.
Chalk it up to a contentious election, conflict in Syria, deadly terrorist attacks, and Zika.
"Add to that, there have been the deaths of a lot of really important people in our lives -- musicians, actors, actresses," psychologist, Dr. Jennifer Hartstein explained.
Prince died at 57, Florence Henderson passed away at 82, David Bowie left us at 69, and George Michael, Arnold Palmer, John Glenn, and Alan Thicke all died as well -- and most recently Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds.
"Who's going to be the next one to go?" Michael Celentano wondered.
Some have gone as far as to curse the current year with t-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers.
HBO host John Oliver ended his show Last Week Tonight with a montage that finished with 2016 being blown to smithereens.
But was it really all that bad?
"The end of the year really brought out so much hatred and disgust and frustration in so many different areas, that people are really not sure how to handle that," Dr. Hartstein said.
The only thing left to do is to find a way to let go.
New Year's Eve in Times Square is just one way to say goodbye to 2016. Experts suggested finding a meaningful way to say goodbye to the year.
In Times Square on Wednesday, it was Good Riddance Day -- a chance to write down the bad and have it hauled off to a shredder. Others smashed symbols of their year.
With the bad out-of-the-way it's time to focus on the good.
"Well I just got a raise, so I guess I have that, and I do have great friends and a loving family," Zhong said.
So cheer up, 2017 is just a few days away.
