Holiday Blues In Southwest Florida
by Michael Barnaby
Holiday House at the Edison-Ford Estates in Fort Myers attracts thirty thousand of us yearly to its fourteen acres of lights and seasonal decorations sparkling throughout the homes and grounds. This annual display represents an ideal as much as a place, evoking feelings and words like tradition, beauty, serenity, peace and love – all wonderful reflections of our humanity. Yet the holiday season can also evoke the equally human feelings of melancholy and sadness, loneliness, emotional exhaustion and anxiety.
Research shows that as many as 25 million people may suffer from a type of seasonal depression, or “holiday blues.” Many people feel “down” during this time of year, and for many reasons. When you think about it, the holidays are demanding - demanding of our time and energy and often our money. Stress can also arise from the physical and financial pressures of holiday shopping. High levels of stress of can come from having unrealistic expectations, from attending family reunions, partying, catering to guests – the list of practical and emotional reasons is long.
The sheer over-commercialization of the season can be draining: I visited a popular shopping area in Port Charlotte that was awash in Christmas trees, wreaths and Christmas carols two weeks before Thanksgiving. The volume and constancy of “soft sell” and “hard sell” can become emotionally numbing. Remember that you can’t buy what the holidays represent; Christmas should mean more than buying and getting.
During these times we may remember those who are no longer with us, or perhaps can’t be with us; we may remember earlier, sometimes happier times. And many find themselves alone during the holidays. "People often hold on to what they remember as an ideal holiday from years gone by, and are unable to reproduce it," said Jill RachBeisel, M.D., director of community psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical Center. "There are also expectations around the holidays that 'everything must be perfect', and perfection is, of course, rarely obtainable."
