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For Some, Positivity is Extra Hard This Time of Year
It can be extra difficult to remember that positivity and all its elements are already inside us.
For some people, the holidays are the best time of the year.
Get-togethers with family and friends; amazing meals and treats; notions of joy, cheer, goodwill, and the like — and presents, of course.
Yet for some people, the holidays are the worst time of the year.
Reminders of loneliness; incompatibility of non-Christian religions; struggles to meet expectations; dealing with family and the ways they trigger you — and other unpleasant experiences.
I was raised Jewish in the predominantly Lutheran suburbs of Minneapolis, MN. Throughout elementary and middle school, we were the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. The awkwardness of many of the kids in the neighborhood during the holidays was palpable.
I spent the holiday season of 1999 in a rehab facility after getting hit by a car crossing a street. The nurse’s station got just 1 radio station — and they played Christmas music 24/7. It was a veritable form of torture — since my room was immediately off the nurse’s station.
