Christmas Blues is called that state of unease, characterized by depression, anxiety, impatience, stress, insomnia, and physical and mental fatigue that accompanies the holiday season and affects many people every year.
In fact, the holiday period represents a real “tour de force” of social conventions and “obligatory” celebrations and is an occasion for an amplification of strong and deep emotions.
In our culture, this period is linked to ideal images of the “perfect” family, idyllic love, rich friendships and social exchanges, harmony, exchange and cheerfulness.
It is also a time of budgets in which, among other things, a kind of collective categorical imperative to be “happy” dominates.
Needless to say, the confrontation between these idealized representations and the narrowness of one’s own reality can generate or exacerbate a sense of loneliness, inadequacy and failure.
Frequent family gatherings; the “vacuum” resulting from decreased work commitments; financial demands (for expenses, gifts, and year-end fulfillments); and the pressure induced by expectations, social conventions, and the stress of “a thousand things to do” are all major stresses.
It is necessary to scale back the importance and expectations attached to the Christmas season, trying to live this period consistently with one’s desires but also with an awareness of one’s limitations, shaking off the imposition of the “collective” and valuing one’s individuality (which does not mean individualism). Then learning to say a few “no’s,” stopping at the “here and now,” experimenting with alternative ways, being more tolerant of ourselves (which also means being more tolerant of others), valuing what we have rather than focusing on what we lack or could have had…
Happy Holidays to all
