Many people hate the holidays. If you ask them why, the reasons range from it's too commercial to it's too exhausting, to seasonal affective disorder. For them, it's anything but the most wonderful time of the year. I used to be in this group, viewing the holiday season as an unwanted work disruption; which easily qualified me, and people like me, as scrooges.
Being a former workaholic, I once felt justified in my disdain for Christmas, but I was really just masking the pain that I long associated with the holiday season, and Christmas Day in particular. In spite of the abundance of presents that I received on Christmas throughout my childhood, I was always yearning, most intensely, for the presence of my father on those Christmas mornings. It never happened.
What did happen is that I developed a complete disregard for Christmas and the holiday season that delivers it. Work became my most effective method of escapism during the holidays as I spent the lingering December days plotting and planning for the oncoming year, conveniently ignoring the usual blizzard of holiday festivities.
This was my pattern, year after year, until I started teaching my Career Planning course at San Francisco State University. Arranging and hosting an annual holiday dinner for my former students made me realize the importance of taking the time to slow down, reflect, and rejuvenate - not just for myself, but with others who embrace the winding down of the year as the optimal time to do so.
With the unrelenting demands and pressures of life, careers, and work, it's easy for the things that matter most to fall through the cracks while in constant hustle mode. We never know what life, the next season will hold, or who will play a part in our journeys, professionally and personally. We need a designated season to acknowledge this.
The holiday season also offers the chance to put things that have become distorted, back into focus while clarifying values and goals. And it's through this lens in which I see this as time to reconnect with the significant people in our lives who may be estranged, and to honor them with the gift of presence. That alone is what makes this the most wonderful time of the year.
The holiday season also offers the chance to put things that have become distorted, back into focus while clarifying values and goals. And it's through this lens in which I see this as time to reconnect with the significant people in our lives who may be estranged, and to honor them with the gift of presence. That alone is what makes this the most wonderful time of the year.
Happy Holidays!
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