Sing with me, "It's....that....time, of year when the world falls in love, ev'ry song, you hear, seems to say, Merry Christmas, may your New Year dreams come true..."
The Christmas season can indeed provide a lot of "dreams come true". But it also demands an excessive toll on our emotional well-being. The seduction of the holiday marketing combined with Western sensibilities create a perfect storm (and we're not talkin' snow storm) that batters our emotions. Here are a few suggestions that can help combat this season of emotional extortion.
1. Try a Temporary News Fast
Just say no to the news for a month. The mainstream media knows that western sensibilities somehow thrive on bad news. And so, negative and horrific news plays twenty-four hours a day to rave reviews. Turn it off. Steve Sample, the President of USC writes in his book, The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership
2. Be Un-American
Don't buy everything in sight with your credit cards and worry about payment next year. Buy only those gifts for which you can pay cash. Sure, it's the American way to buy, buy, buy - but the emotional toll is not worth the temporary satisfaction of providing gifts for ten generations of your family. Instead, use your creativity and resourcefulness to make gifts with your own hands. If you are a painter, paint. If you are a builder, build. If you are a seamstress, sew. This gives an excuse to utilize your talents and quite possibly please the person receiving the gift far more than the latest widget or fashion.
3. Be Un-Christian
It is impossible to serve everyone that needs us this season. Our Christian values tend to produce excessive guilt that depletes our emotions. Choose one or two non-family members that truly need your help and focus on them. If each of us will focus and serve one or two people in need, it proves more effective and fills our emotional tank instead of depleting it.
4. Party With Safe Friends
Not with one-uppers (you know, the people that always have an immediate and bigger story than yours), not with cannibals (people that literally consume you the entire time you are with them), and not with family members who practice emotional incest. Plan a few parties with people who actually listen to you, who can give something back emotionally and family members that are not co-dependent. If you don't have people like this in your life, go find them NOW!! If you don't know how to find them, buy Daniel Goleman's book Emotional Intelligence
Are you still singing with me? "May your New Year dreams come true, And this song of mine, In three-quarter time, Wishes you and yours, The same thing too!" Merry Christmas!
