“Why rejecting the idea of the ‘perfect Christmas’ is the best thing we can do for our mental health”
With all that considered, I’m sure you can imagine the long mental to-do list I’m carrying around with me at this time of year. There’s a million and one stereotypical festive activities and traditions I want to partake in – picture me, Christmas music and all, baking gingerbread while drinking hot chocolate, and you’re halfway to understanding my December vibe – and skipping out on one of those treasured activities is rarely an option in my mind.
But of course, as one woman limited by the laws of space and time, there is only so much Christmas I can fit in every year. While the fictional Lauren in my head spends her December skipping from festive activity to festive activity, the real me spends a lot of time racing about in a flustered manner struggling to get even half of it done. And when those festive aspirations include other people –is my kind of thing – it’s even harder to ensure everything goes to plan.
Of course, I am well aware that my ability to even dream of all those festive activities is wrapped up in a lot of privilege, especially as someone who has a family and home to spend Christmas day in. But as someone who also deals with acondition, it’s important for me to challenge the way I think at this time of year – no matter how trivial the issue may seem.
Because underneath all of these hopes and plans is that one status that seems to elude us all: perfection. Despite being told time and time again that perfection doesn’t exist – in the words of Hannah Montana, “nobody’s perfect” – it’s easy to fall back into the same patterns and ways of thinking. Especially when the idea of a “perfect Christmas” is so prevalent in everything we do at this time of year - and that’s why I now spend every year challenging the stereotype.
“A perfect Christmas is something many struggle to achieve, and that struggle creates a pressure cooker mentally”
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