This is the week when the holiday gatherings and celebrations begin in earnest, with office lunches and get-togethers on tap, and all of the social anxiety and distress that comes along with them. If history is any indication, this is when people tend to bring the drama, and understandably so – we are all taxed with extra burdens and told we should be having fun and enjoying the moment and the time together and bullshit, bullshit, bullshit…
After several years of therapy and working on my own anxiety issues, I’m happily at the point where I can genuinely say (and mean) ‘Fuck it’ when things get to be too much, and I’ll step out of anything at any point in time as needed. People will simply need to be ok with that. Thus far, my close friends and family have always been fine with it, mostly because I haven’t made a huge deal out of anything.
That said, there will be inescapable episodes where we don’t have the time or preparation to be ready for uncomfortable situations, and rather than stress or worry about it, I’ve adopted a better outlook and attitude when they rear their discomforting heads, one which embraces the imperfection of life, finding fun and laughter in the follies of what we as humans find ourselves doing at any given moment. When you consider what really matters, the friends and family we love, the rest of it doesn’t matter as much. Holding onto that levity and being flexible and open to new experiences are ways in which I’m staying calm amid the frenzy of holiday mayhem. It’s just the slightest tweak in how I’ve handled these couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, but it makes a world of difference.
