My last post revolved around the pressure to be perfect and its affect on the human body if not handled with care. So I thought it fitting to continue the topic since it is that time of year where the pressure to be perfect is at its boiling point. Here's a reminder to do your best to take it in stride and not succumb to the omnipresent pressure to have the perfect holiday season.
The holiday season (for me, Christmas) oftentimes feels like a pressure cooker filled with the following tasty ingredients: 10 pounds of guilt, 6 cups of obligation, a shot of over-indulgence and just a sprinkling of rage.
The main ingredient is guilt, which you have to buy special from the Unrealistic Expectations store. Chop the guilt until you can't recognize it anymore and put it into a large bowl. Then whisk in the obligation (make sure to whip it good till you're really tired and crabby) and finally, pour in the shot of over-indulgence (must be at least 80 proof). Let it boil for 25 days and then sprinkle with rage (finely grated). It tastes like crap, but you'll learn to live love it.
Ha. Ha.
The pressure is everywhere, a solid part of the American holiday landscape this time of year. And nowadays, it starts as early as August! It arrives in the form of commercials, songs, magazine articles and advertisements, all neatly disguised as messages of holiday cheer.
This year, I've been walking around feeling the holiday guilt since late October. First, I get excited that Christmas is coming and I start to get big plans. Then the catalogs start arriving in my mailbox and the lite radio channel goes all holiday music. Then it happens---the unrealistic expectations start creeping in. I start feeling like whatever I'm doing, whatever I'm planning, whatever I'm buying is not enough. And it's because I'm surrounded by messages that tell me that's true.
According to the magazines I've been reading, I should be baking sweets out the wazoo. I should be decorating my house like a winter wonderland and I should be coming up with creative holiday traditions for my family. I have also been informed that I should have a perfect holiday outfit to wear to my holiday party where I should be hobnobbing with the upper executives and taking the opportunity to advance my career.
According to the catalogs I've been receiving, I should be spending large amounts of money for gadgets that nobody needs at Hammacher Schlemmer. I should buy the perfect holiday sweater for everyone on my list from The Gap. I should be "impressing"people at work by delivering towers of nuts and fruit from Harry and David and I should delight in the season and "deck the halls" with over priced items from Crate and Barrel.
According to my TV, my entire family should have some sort of family call plan and matching cell phones. I should be wearing metallic jeans from Old Navy. I should have rock hard abs and wear angel wings with my bra and panties. I should also know that my husband only loves me if he goes to Jared or puts diamonds on my pillow while I'm sleeping. And of course, I should either be giving or receiving a car with a giant red bow on the top of it.
According to my radio, both Celine Dion and John Lennon want me to know that it is Christmas and accusingly ask me what have I done. The pop stars of Live Aid want me to feel bad that people in Africa don't know it's Christmas and that they don't have any snow (um....snow? It's Africa!). And a ton of other songs paint a picture in my mind of warm family gatherings and rousing sleigh rides. Neither of which will come to fruition this year.
And finally, according to the mail I've been getting, I should be donating to everyone from Jimmy Carter to Planned Parenthood and every cause from endangered wildlife to muscular dystrophy.
ARGHHH!! The messages create a wild cocktail of stress and emotion that manages to make me feel both broke and over privileged at the same time. Not to mention the hangover it leaves me with that causes me wonder why my family isn't like the one in the Hallmark or coffee commercial. I'm usually so full of it all that I manage to block out the donation guilt. It's not that I don't want to help, it's that I can't do everything! I am not a Christmas super hero!
So fellow Jobschmobbers, here's wishing, hoping and praying that we all survive this mesh of holiday consumerism, guilt and unrealistic expectations. Here's hoping we remember to breathe, stick to our budgets and don't get sucked under by what companies tell us we should be doing. Lastly, here's to continuing to think for ourselves and to a strong recovery in January!
labtech(11/29/2007)
I am just about finished with Christmas shopping - the last item I'm picking up this week. Then the wallet slams shut. I'll make one pie, maybe some apple dumplings, mooch off my family for Christmas dinner, and I don't even think about the fuss and muss of the "perfect Christmas". Our light sets are five years old, bought at half-price, and they'll get put up this weekend. I'll watch a few Christmas specials. What did I do during the year ? Made sure I donated my time and stuff to worthy causes; I set a goal of four times volunteering per year, and I've met that goal. My last bag of clothes and sundries goes to the charity this week. Too much pressure is on people to be "perfect" - it's a time to relax and reflect on the year, what you could do better, what you did that mattered.
Simply Teshia(11/30/2007)
Did I offend???:) Happy holidays!! And cheers to you all!!
HaveADamnNiceDay(12/22/2007)
You know what? I can relate. However, what can you do? Here's what I did: Since my company doesn't believe in giving bonuses at christmas, I've squirrelled away all the money I could and spent it on my husband! I managed to get him ONE gift. However, it was expensive, and I know he'll enjoy it. It's quality, in my book, not quantity. It's something he wanted, I bought it and now I'm tapped out until next paycheck!!!
I'm not worried about it. ^_^
JobSchmobber Community Comments
Simply Teshia (11/28/2007)
Uhh, maybe you should try relaxing a little, I think its more so you than the advertisements and you are making it much more than what it is. Those advertisements are nothing but ads and really unless you need ideals on christmas presents than they have no other purpose. Yeah, how about you stop focusing so much on that and just enjoy the holidays because at the end of the day its not that serious and you are reading into this way too much. Happy holidays!!
dumber than a catbox full of sh*t (11/28/2007)
I just blow it all off--I ordered my T-giving dinner already cooked from the local grocery store in the town where we have our little country place.
I gave my son his PS3 early--T-giving--we brought it to the country so he would have 4 days to have fun with it.
I'm not putting up a tree. I have only a few gifts to buy--my husband is getting half of the shopping to do.
I'm ditching the work party and going out with my husband instead.
For X-mas eve I think I want old movies and deep dish pizza and for X-Mas--we will be out in the country I'm making ham, potatoes and corn and biscuits and maybe brownies.
Low-key--that's the way to go. The most valuable part of Christmas/the Holidays to me is to not have to go to work and to really do what makes me happy. If you try the picture-perfect thing you will never get it right--it's not obtainable. But making myself happy...is.
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