From the editor

What has your 2019 looked like? Was it a non-stop road trip around the world? Did you succeed at every goal you set yourself? Were you constantly surrounded by your dearest friends, in that killer outfit you just bought, sipping on fancy cocktails?

No. And I guarantee not a single person on this planet had a year that relentlessly good, because that isn’t real life. But over the next few weeks we’ll be bombarded with social media feeds full of #BestNines. We’ll endure what feels like a never-ending parade of exotic holidays, marriages, births, promotions and epic nights out, and we’ll inevitably feel pressure to do the same. But beware: there’s a trap wide open for us to fall into if we let ourselves: comparison anxiety.

What did my #BestNine look like? Getting this job, and celebrating with friends and family. Seeing my first issue on a newsstand. Road-tripping around Hawaii. But how about my #WorstNine? It’s looked like considering therapy for the first time. It’s looked like a lonely night at home when being single in your thirties didn’t feel as thrilling as Sex And The City made out. It’s looked very different from my #BestNine, that’s for sure.

So when you spend the end of this year living off your fourth day of leftovers and beating yourself up over the things you didn’t achieve, switch the narrative. What are you proud of? What moments made 2019 a vintage year of being you? Because, as our feature on p98 will tell you, comparison can be toxic and we could all do with a bit less of it.

And if you need yet another reason to celebrate being you and no one else, settle in for a joy-boosting pep talk from modern-day agony aunt Jonathan Van Ness (p70). JVN has made viewers laugh and weep in equal measure on Queer Eye and now he’s here to comfort us all with his advice on the unattainable goal of being your “best self” 24/7.

Here’s to 2020 – and don’t worry, you totally smashed 2019.