Solstice is here at last, a sure sign that the lengthy, stressful, wonderful holiday season is coming to a close. From Solstice to New Year's Day we are in the chute, as it were. The energy rises fast now in preparation for the grand finale, like on the Fourth of July at the conclusion of the show, when they bring out all the biggest, brightest, most colorful and loudest fireworks, then set them off all at the same time.
Even people who love the holidays become exhausted and frazzled by the end of the festival of abundance that began at Thanksgiving. It's so over the top (as it should be, in my opinion). There are those of us, the introverts mostly, who struggle with the inevitable sensory overload that is the result of too many parties, a whole lot of feasting, shopping in clogged shopping centers, brightly lit landscapes, lurid sweaters and so on.
Every year extraverts and introverts, lovers of the season as well as grinches, work hard to make the holiday successful - whatever that means (people have very different interpretations, of course). Our efforts are appropriate and can be very enjoyable, but all the extra activity and expense takes its toll, spiritually, mentally and physically.
Whether you love them or hate them, or something in between, my suggestion for getting through the final days of the festival is to let go of what hasn't yet been done so as to relax and enjoy the holiday itself. In any event, it will all be over soon. January will arrive, dreary perhaps but for almost every one of us, a relief.
Let there be light. Happy Solstice. Shalom.
2 comments:
I am glad to have this week. Since my adulthood, it has been increasingly a week that I engage in nothing.
As it should be!
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