Books and cheese cutlets
This blog will attempt to present life at its best, and will often drop in on the subject of what cheeses melt on your tongue and how a good book can stay with you forever.
Post holiday stress syndrome/disorder/nonsense – opinions of an actual human being from this generation
I don’t think I have ever planned my holidays so tightly before. I visited New York, drove home straight afterwards, went to Six Flags right after Christmas, and then drove up to my Alma mater to visit some old friends to party up New Year’s eve.
Looking back at all my Christmas breaks in college, I’m reminded of all the things I wanted to do while I was an impoverished yet idealistic undergraduate. Now that I am somewhat financially secure, my quality of life has improved significantly in that I can actually act upon my desires to travel. I never thought I’d come across a different dilemma.
What happens when I come back.
Surely I don’t have to explain how three days of street-food exploration, knock-off purse bargaining, theater-stalking activities, and shopping* have rendered me stuck on the idea that I should not move on with the rest of my not-so-sleep-deprived-video-game-centric Louisianan life. As if that wasn’t the perfect end to the wonderful year of 2011, I managed to keep the gas pedal floored as I rode a couple of roller coasters and spent hours visiting with friends and family at home. But as far as calling it a syndrome or a disorder, I don’t agree.
Maybe you’re part of that 5%* that actually encounter a physical enlargement of a certain organ (don’t know what you’re thinking about, but I most definitely mean the stomach) after the holidays–then maybe you can call it a medical phenomenon. But I don’t think we should be so quick to call it a disorder or a syndrome. Already, my e-news subscriptions are full with articles on how to deal with post holiday stress, or lack thereof, food problems etc etc. And I’m not a loony or anything of that sort, but I do subscribe to health literature. The holidays have been around for all of our lives, it’s not something new. It’s just a length of time when a person’s routine is rocked hardcore and he or she becomes vulnerable to some past-due reality checks and introspection.
I do believe that it is a purposeful and apportioned length of time that allows you to realize how far you are in (or from) your dreams and goals as an individual. Life is too short to wave these feelings aside as another stress disorder, so maybe the next time the holidays come around, you can actually answer John Lennon with an “I’ve done lots” to his overplayed, yet nonetheless meaningful, “What have you done?”
*Duh.
**More like 95%, am I right New-Year’s-Resolutioneers?
