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Dec. 14th, 2001
Somebody on one of the other fora I frequent asked "Does anyone else think this is the most tiring and stressful time of the year?"
Below is my answer:
Yes, because this is one of the four times of year where people are most egregiously reveling in having loved ones to spend time with, and in how glad they are of how things are going well for them. But this is even more prone to stressing people out than Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve, because there is SO MUCH MORE of an effort perceived as required if things are to go well.
So each little setback is larger to us than it actually is, because we've convinced ourselves that it isn't supposed to be this way. We think "Everybody else is happy and has things working out as desired, so why not me? What is wrong with me that causes me to be the fuckup here? Why is it that I, of all people, am the one who's having a bad holiday?
And that's just the ones who don't deal with some form of sadness the rest of the year. Anybody who may be prone to the occasional fit of depression is going to get hit that much harder, and may whatever god you worship help you if you suffer from the really heavy bad stuff, where making it through two days when everybody else (or so you think at some level) is having a wonderful time twice in the same seven-day stretch.
Actually, I think THAT is one of the largest parts of why Christmas is such a hard time - at the same level where your deepest insecurities fester like an untreated wound, you know that no sooner have you started to really get back into stride from the emotional hit that you took from Santa, but you're going to have all the bad decisions that you've made over the past year rising from the grave to gnaw on you like Roger Corman zombies.
OK, I think I'm done now. Back to your regularly-scheduled posts.
Below is my answer:
Yes, because this is one of the four times of year where people are most egregiously reveling in having loved ones to spend time with, and in how glad they are of how things are going well for them. But this is even more prone to stressing people out than Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve, because there is SO MUCH MORE of an effort perceived as required if things are to go well.
So each little setback is larger to us than it actually is, because we've convinced ourselves that it isn't supposed to be this way. We think "Everybody else is happy and has things working out as desired, so why not me? What is wrong with me that causes me to be the fuckup here? Why is it that I, of all people, am the one who's having a bad holiday?
And that's just the ones who don't deal with some form of sadness the rest of the year. Anybody who may be prone to the occasional fit of depression is going to get hit that much harder, and may whatever god you worship help you if you suffer from the really heavy bad stuff, where making it through two days when everybody else (or so you think at some level) is having a wonderful time twice in the same seven-day stretch.
Actually, I think THAT is one of the largest parts of why Christmas is such a hard time - at the same level where your deepest insecurities fester like an untreated wound, you know that no sooner have you started to really get back into stride from the emotional hit that you took from Santa, but you're going to have all the bad decisions that you've made over the past year rising from the grave to gnaw on you like Roger Corman zombies.
OK, I think I'm done now. Back to your regularly-scheduled posts.
