The Tenacity Of Holidays

by Ron R. Lacson

You smile at almost everyone you meet. You shake someone’s hand whenever possible. You do occasional high-fives and ‘beso-beso’ / cheek to cheek kisses with your friends when you’re in the mood (and you’re always in the mood). You sing your favorite songs – when you’re walking, when you’re buying a piece of bread when you’re texting, or when you’re about to go to the toilet – just soft enough for everyone to not notice your falsetto voice so you won’t be mistaken as the resurrected Michael Jackson (or more like the Bee Gees, I guess 😊).

What brings you precisely to these moments of delightful spirit and the obvious thankfulness of your being part of the existing universe, is not exactly a puzzle anymore. The reason? It’s the Holiday Season of course. It’s December; the fetching air of Christmas and the exciting fragrance of the coming New Year are like ripe apples now ready for picking, and you want to savor every breeze while you are conscious and awake; and if you can smell the gift wrappers and taste the sugary food while you’re sleeping and dreaming, you’ll do it too and will consider those as added perks.

This time of the year is like a drug that catapults you to different levels of ecstatic experiences – you are almost always happy, you are almost always looking without problem, you are almost always feeling loved and liked by everyone, you are almost always home – and you wish they’re all true; and you’ll make them true, or pretend they’re all true, or at least the holidays will tenaciously help to make them true this time of each year.

The holidays are about people and experiences. It’s a time when being in solitude should be replaced by being with the multitude; or at the very least, by being with another person you enjoy exchanging stories with. It is a time when the clamor for sharing emotions with other individuals is overwhelming and alluring.

It’s a time of revelation of the mindfulness of contradictions i.e. to poke fun at/with friends but to be sensitive to their needs as well; to give and also to take; to be gentle but also to laugh without inhibition; to travel somewhere but also to dream of going home; to stay happy but also to be concerned with the sadness of others; to be in the whirlpool of joy of the present moment but also to be captive in the memories of the past and the uncertainty of the future; to fancy that your loved ones will always be with you but also to adamantly make them independent and mature; to feel truly alive but also to feel too tired; to wish that the holidays would last forever but also wonder when they will end, and end they will.

So what does this set of holidays mean to you – considering that you’re not immune to its effect and influence – when it arrives on your lap regularly and without ceasing every year? Does the entire story of your life every holiday gallop the same every year like TV show reruns? Do you always go with the flow? Do you just always join the bandwagon?

Step inside the basket of honesty and you would certainly answer, “I don’t know what holidays mean to me and ‘yes’, it has always been the same every year because I just want to be part of what most people normally do.” If that’s the case, then what you needed and what you’ve always gotten every holiday – deny it or admit it – is a just a pinch of reassurance; a solace that you would be back alive the next year to celebrate it. And for many, it is enough, but sadly not even close to being meaningful.

Look at the mirror and ask these questions: ‘what can you do differently these holidays?’; what skills do you have that you can realize or develop this year?’; ‘What can you possibly do to extend assisting hands to others who need help?’; 'What books should you read to acquire new information on dealing with life tomorrow?’; and ‘What changes will you perform to make these holidays your stepping stones to a better future?’. Providing honest responses to these questions could be the beginning of how you’ll be discovering something more about yourself – with impetus and passion – these holidays.

Christmas and New Year Holidays are here to stay, and they’ll come every year; they are the ones with the most tenacious effects on you and will continue to yammer you like they’re your annual regular visitors likely always altering your moves and modifying your plans every step of the way.

The desire (or advice) this article hurls is for you ‘to not just be passive,’ ‘to not to just go with the flow’, and instead ‘to be in control of yourself and of the time these holidays offer you,’ and ’to be truly active in handling your affairs.’ Use these holidays as your moments of discovery, and do it wisely and elegantly. Be aware of your mental and emotional moves. Be in the total hold of your financial activities (don’t spend haphazardly; don’t waste money). Be the author of your experiences these holidays. Be in control. Discover yourself again.

As would be the result of just giving these suggestions a try this year, there is little doubt that a remarkable change will occur on how you’ll deal with people and how you’ll use your time. And your outlook in life will continue to improve, every year; every holiday.

So next time you pronounce the greeting cliché – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – to the people you know or will meet, make certain first that its control on you is not self-cherishing, but your hold on its effects are your way of discovering what you can do better for yourself and others.

So anyway, just the same, now that you know what to do these holidays, it is still delightful and wonderful to say: MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all. Enjoy ‘The Tenacity of Holidays.’