The pressure to be ho ho happy
I really don’t want to sound like a grinch as I really do love Christmas, but there seems to me to be this unwritten rule of pressure – and that is to be happy all the time in December, doesn’t there?
Maybe I am wrong and it is just me who feels like this, and I know I do it to myself, but I seem to give myself this added pressure that anything I do that is remotely Christmas-related must be perfect and has to be done with complete joy and happiness. The money to be spent, the shopping, the wrapping, the endless cooking all must be on my shoulders to produce and yet I must do so feeling so elated and happy!
Don’t get me wrong, I do not mind at all, but what can make things hard is feeling guilty about saying it’s hard work and creating Christmas can be stressful. It’s like you are instantly labelled as Scrooge if you say anything negative about the festive season.
Pretending to be happy and upbeat all the time, for whatever reason, can also feel very isolating and lonely especially at this time of the year. You can feel lonely in a crowd or by being alone.
So for anyone who, like me, is feeling stressed, isolated, lonely, down or just not 100% ho ho happy every minute, you are not alone and it is absolutely OK to admit it. You are not Scrooge, you are human and it is OK to be honest about how you are feeling.
We are all in this together and we are all doing our best and that is more than good enough.
