Written by: Lyla Virgi
People describe the Winter Holidays as the most auspicious time of the year. The picture of children ice skating, drinking hot cocoa by the fire, binging every Christmas movie while covered in a warm fluffy blanket, and watching the white snow fall from the sky definitely seems appealing. However, there is an entirely different side that nobody seems to talk about. The side where people see their friends having a jolly good time on social media while they are sitting on a couch lonely and having FOMO. Or rather, the people who don’t have anybody to spend the Holidays with.
During the Winter Holidays, there is so much to miss out on, and this makes them all the more scary. The thought of not being included in a secret santa or missing out on a cute Christmas sleepover makes people shiver. FOMO is more extreme during the holidays because everybody is spending time with their friends and family. This leads to certain people being excluded and feeling lonely. Additionally, there are several people who may be distant from their family, may not have many close friends, and may not have a significant other. Not having people to share the joy with during the holidays can be a difficult situation. Ultimately, the feeling of being lonely can be a fear to people and is something that is harder to face during the Winter Holiday season.
Another part of the Winter Holidays which nobody ever points out is the need to always seem happy and jolly. Sure, Christmas may be full of rainbow lights and happy smiles but this doesn’t automatically remove any sorrowful feeling that a human is capable of having. Is it truly so horrible to not feel extremely happy during the Holidays? Why does it always feel like it is an obligation to be happy just because it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa? It always seems like one has to feel a certain way in order for their Holiday to go well. I’ll end this point with one last question, why do Holidays have to be perfect in order for them to be considered special?
For weeks, all anybody talks or thinks about are the Holidays. People decorate their houses, restaurants, and stores. Christmas songs are playing, Christmas movies are being watched on repeat. Christmas is everywhere and it’s unavoidable. However, there are people who are going through hard events in their lives. The people who are spending their first Christmas without their husband/father/wife/someone special for the first time, the people who are going through mental disorders, people who may be sick, etc. These people are surrounded with all this cheerfulness while on the inside, they are feeling miserable. Being in a blissful environment, while you are suffering, can truly take a toll on you. Christmas may occur during a hard experience in some people’s lives.
The Winter Holidays are a happy time and they do bring out an extreme amount of joy.. However, there are people that are going through hard times during the Holiday season. The message is that the Holidays are not perfect and neither are people’s lives. This is a fact that people have to acknowledge more. People say that, “nobody likes a Holiday grinch,” but sometimes, the Holidays aren’t a happy time for everybody and nobody should feel like they are obligated to be happy during these times!