The holiday season, for many, is a time of joy, merriment, and celebration. However, there exists a cohort of individuals who find themselves immersed in a sea of holiday doldrums, where the twinkling lights and festive trees serve as poignant reminders of less-than-merry memories. For me, it’s a cheerful time of year full of sparkle and color, but I have friends who can’t wait for it to be over and for normalcy to return. When those friends are triggered by sparkling decor, remembering bad holiday memories, they can’t escape because the signs of the season are everywhere.
I equate the holiday doldrums to regular, year-round crappy days, just more poignant and pervasive during the year-end months. As we navigate the regular bad days and seasonal blues, I find it inspirational to draw on actor Stephen Fry’s attitude on getting through the bad days:
“I’ve found that it’s of some help to think of one’s moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather. Here are some obvious things about the weather: It’s real. You can’t change it by wishing it away. If it’s dark and rainy it really is dark and rainy, and you can’t alter it. It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row. But. It will be sunny one day.”
Just like the weather affects us, so does life at times. We must accept the weather as out of our control, just as some bad days are. It may feel like a perpetual state of melancholy but understanding that this too shall pass is crucial. To acknowledge that the day is stormy, inside or out, is a meaningful way to approach it. Finding an outside umbrella or envisioning an inside umbrella helps us to remember that the event is not permanent. The umbrella will be folded away and saved for another rainy day. The functionality reminds us that we are able to navigate safe passage through the storm, knowing that the sun will come out.
Eventually, as we fold away our physical and emotional umbrellas, we open ourselves to the possibility of enjoying the warmth and brightness that awaits on the other side of the storm. That is the part that is within our control – the remembering and exercise of using the umbrella tool.
Here’s to Hope,
Maryclara
