Fare thee well, 2016.

To understate it, the year felt very full. To perhaps overstate, part of me keeps asking the same question lately: “What the [insert your preferred PG, PG-13 or R-rated expletive here] just happened?”

As 2017 approached, I looked back over this year and marveled at the twists and turns in my own life. Now I won’t regale you with a slideshow-like retelling of my year or the gut punches and victories that came with it.

Certainly, there are many moments I’d like to forget and an equal number I’m like to etch in my memory in precise detail.

And no, I’m not talking about losing Prince, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie or Carrie Fisher — and the many other beloved celebrities who passed away in 2016.

I saw a headline calling 2016 “The year the music died.” I rolled my eyes and thought, “Settle down people.”

Now let me get this out of the way first: I strongly cherished the work of many of the celebrities who passed away in 2016. “The Songs of Leonard Cohen” is one of my favorite albums, and I always wanted to see Prince in concert. And who can imagine the Star Wars franchise without Princess Leia?

But I realized something as Carrie Fisher, who was beloved for her role as Princess Leia, passed away this past week: We are starting to go a bit overboard about celebrity deaths.

Sure, I loved all the art/entertainment by the celebrities I’ve mentioned in this column. But I knew next to nothing about them as people, about how they lived their day-to-day lives, and about how they treated those around them.

Mourning them to the extent we now mourn our celebrities often feels more self-serving than anything else.

So on the eve of this new year, look to the people you’re spending New Year’s with and focus on them versus a celebrity you’ve never met.