Holly Jolly Humbug
The holiday season is filled with music, multiple events occurring around town and images of world peace and cheerful families. This at times can be heartwarming but we are going to talk about when it’s not. The pressure of being jolly during this season can feel insurmountable while an expression of annoyance can automatically get you called a “scrooge” a “humbug”. As time goes on the fun and delight that many expect around the holiday season often leads to heart ache. Which of these do you notice in your own life?
Gotta be Happy
Do you expect yourself to want to spend time with family? To share the love with everyone around you?
There is a lot of pressure not just for happiness during this time of year but statistics show an increase in sad and terrible things like suicide rate. There is a lot of sadness and pain that goes overlooked and unacknowledged during the holiday. Don’t trick yourself into believing that you must be happy and feel pressure for perfection. After all, it is unfair to draw so many conclusions about yourself and your life from a couple of days out of a year.
Feeling bad for not feeling good
Do you find yourself getting upset with yourself? Believing something is wrong with you because you are not as happy as everyone seems during the holidays?
You want to feel positive so much that you get upset with yourself that you aren’t after all the holidays are a “joyous occasion”.
Let me tell you:
It is normal to have a hard time enjoying the holiday season. Mentally berating yourself over not rejoicing at each and every moment this season has to offer is unlikely to make you feel any better. In fact you will likely feel worse believing that you are flawed in some way. It is not possible to have a “happy heart” at all times despite what external sources might claim. Go ahead and hate on the holiday.
Embracing the Holiday
Do you allow yourself to have a healthy relationship with this season? Can you pick and choose your “holiday”?
Embracing the holiday has often meant that you “go all out”. You decorate, schedule sightings of family whose name you may have already forgotten, purchase the correct gifts and are reasonably hungry for all themed food and interested in all the social gatherings. Here is a gentle reminder that you are an adult and no holiday has to look the way you remember growing up or even the way it was “celebrated ” last year. You are welcome to delight in, redefine and completely discard any tradition or “holiday spirit” that creates more stress.
The holiday season is filled with more complicated feelings and situations. It is a time when memories resurface both pleasant and otherwise. I hope you take the time to consider how this time of year impacts you and honor that.
Falalala-la-let it go.
Are you ready to try a new holiday tradition?
If you are ready to have a holiday with less overwhelm and anxiety then, book your free discovery call with me today. Let me help you uncover the transformative potential of counseling for anxiety when guided by a clear plan and the expertise of the right therapist can help you now, tomorrow and well into your future.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope this helps you as you take your own powerful and transformative journey. Per usual take what fits for you, leave what does not, and join me next time. Until then let’s stay social 🙂
