For many people the holidays are a time of stress and anxiety. This year has been particularly stressful. The pandemic has brought a new layer of complications and issues to our celebrations. People are easily offended when you tell them you won’t be joining them for their parties. Parents are telling their children not to come home for the holidays because they are afraid. Now add in all the regular anxieties of gift giving, food preparation, and trying to manage the new realities of the pandemic lifestyle. No matter how you look at things the holidays have been more stressful than previous years, at least for me.
There are probably people out there who are finding that this holiday season is less stressful. No company holiday parties to attend. Seeing fewer people could mean fewer gifts to purchase. Fewer people coming around means less food to prepare.
For many other people this is the first holiday they will be celebrating without someone that should have been there. This pandemic has taken so many people from us that would have otherwise been celebrating the end of 2020 by our side.
Still others are wondering if they will have a home at all in the new year. They have been without work for so long that unemployment and savings have run dry. Food and shelter seem like something almost out of reach for many people this holiday season.
Now that I have written all of this out I find my own level of stress to pale in comparison. I have a home, a job, food on the table, and have so far been able to avoid the current plague. I really don’t have anything to complain about, and in a way I am fortunate to have all of these things that cause all the normal holiday stresses.
Whatever your situation the end of the holidays means the promise of a new year. Hopefully one that will bring much better things. There is a vaccine. There is a new President. People will find ways to put food on their tables again. I am not sad to see this year depart, but I am also very fortunate to have come through it with so little loss. Stay safe out there.