Holiday Horror?

This is the time of the year when the approach of the holiday season can begin to weigh on folks.  My birthday is at the end of October, and back when I was a young child, that was a LOOONG way from Christmas.  Now, the Christmas decorations are up before Halloween.

Are you feeling a little bah-humbug about it all?  Do you find the holiday season to be irritating, or disturbing?  Does all of the urging to make merry sort of curdle your porridge?  Well, you are human!   There are reasons that so many of us actually feel cranky and out of sorts at the end of the year.  And, I have a suggestion about how to turn it around.

Notice that it's getting darker earlier each day?  And mornings are gloomier, too.  Then, we leave daylight savings time, which will make the evenings darker even sooner.  Winter is approaching, and a primitive, yet powerful, part of our brain begins to worry about cold, enough food, and whether or not spring will in fact return.

As a coping mechanism, we have developed many rituals and celebrations for the year end, involving a lot of symbols that represent our hope that winter will transition into spring.  Ornaments on a green Christmas tree represent the hope of life (the evergreen tree) and abundance (the ornaments symbolize fruit).  We eat a lot, as an act of faith that more will follow.  We light up our homes, burn logs in the fireplace, and indulge in scented candles to recreate the sunlight that we hope will return.

This is not the season of natural cheerfulness and urges to make merry - we create these rituals to chase away the atavistic fears that come up at this time of the year.  This is especially true of northern European cultures, where the climate is more harsh in the winter.  (Cultures closer to the equator have New Year rituals as well, but there's a different emphasis.  Here's a link to an article about Venezuelan New Year customs, and others around the world.)

Therefore, if you are feeling not so cheerful during the holiday season, you are having a NORMAL reaction.  If you can alter your frame of reference, and understand that these rituals are meant to restore optimism in the face of the dark and the cold, then you can view this time of the year as an opportunity to create a little cheer for yourself in some creative way - 'tis the season to be jolly because you have chosen to be jolly.  Cold and dark begone!