Blogmass is a thing I didn’t know existed until literally a few weeks ago (perhaps someting to put in the pipeline for next year), but I still thought I’d dedicate a post to Christmas, and of course, link it to mental health. Christmas this year will look very different for all of us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make the most of what we have, and the positivity that can, and will, come from this change. The goalpost of Christmas will give us something to look forward to, and an excuse to be cheerful – other than the hope of the improvement in corona cases (if that even is the case where you are).
As a great man once said, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
I’m going to be honest and mention that this post might not actually cheer you up, because I’ll be talking about some aspects of Christmas that get gracefully overlooked. But I encourage you to read on anyway because it might help you look at Christmas in different way and make the most of what you already have.
Expectation vs Reality
Christmas is a good thing, especially this year because it essentially gives you a kind of goal post to aim towards and something to look forward to. But before that you have the expectation of having to buy presents for people. Which is good because it is a kind thing to, and it’s nice to see people happy. There’s the added stress of having to figure out what a person would like or needs. So then the build up of stress comes in, I know personally that I start to feel guilty because I feel like I’ve got to sum up an entire relationship in a couple of presents. And I know that a large part of that is me putting pressure on myself for what’s going to amount to an hour at most on Christmas day.
The Build Up
In a lot of ways I think this is perhaps the most exciting part of Christmas. Feeling the excitement begin to build over a period of weeks is very nice thing to see.
Remember, this is a time for giving; that also includes giving yourself a break and not being so hard on yourself (that’s my cue, I deserve a break!)
Not Everything about Christmas is Happy
As a reflective person, I see Christmas as a time to think through what you’ve achieved, and how far you’ve come. Which is no bad thing – if anything it is good – but in order to do that you have to see what you could have achieved and what could have been. I realise this is probably a really unhealthy mentality to have (because it’s so far from the sanity mentality). Although I don’t really agree with New Years resolutions, because who’s to say that we can’t set a goal or ourselves any day of the year, this idea of reflections can be good way of analysing how your sense of self has developed over a long period of time. So the New Year can act as a tabula rasa (oooh, fancy!), allowing you to implement more positive habits and ways of thinking.
The Grinch
Aside from my own personal woes (I’ll stop waffling soon, I promise), for some people Christmas can act as a reminder of a very bad period in their life. Whilst what is considered bad varies from person to person, this could include the death of a loved one, marriage separation, for example. And the assumption that it’s Christmas so you’ve got to be happy, can actually have a very detrimental effect on a person’s state of mind because they simply can’t keep up with the expectation.
This will be the last post until the New Year, as I need to recharge my batteries, so that I can keep giving you decent content. Thank you to those of you who have put forward suggestions to include in my content going forward.
– D
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