Top 5 Christmas Emotions
It’s that time of year again! Christmas music begins playing right after Halloween, and Thanksgiving is looked over by all combined with the biggest consumerism holiday of the year. It’s quite grand. And while this time of the year is festive and all the jazz, it comes with a roller-coaster of emotions we’re all—or know others—are quite familiar with. They’re in no particular order, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people experienced them like as followed. Here are your 5 most-common emotions of the holidays.
1. Anticipation: Family, spending time with loved ones, vacation, and getting time off from work. But c’mon, presents under the tree and gifts galore is what’s highly anticipated—the receiving, not so much the giving.
2. Excitement: The holidays are exciting for obvious reasons. The anticipation builds all year, and then excitement hits right as October ends and December draws near. This excitement can make some forget the real spirit of the holidays and forget being grateful for what we already have.
3. Anxiousness: This rings true for parents fretting over presents for their kids. It also explains the feeling of others because it seems the most mischief happens around this time of year, unfortunately. I can only imagine that anxious souls attempt to take advantage of other anxious souls because it’s easy with all the hustle and bustles of materialism. When you have nothing to lose, taking from others doesn’t sound so amoral. And on the other end of the spectrum even if you have something to lose, taking a gamble seems more worth it now than ever.
4. Stressed: As a result of the anxiousness, stress manifests. Plenty either stress over what gifts to get others or stress over the compromises they’ll end up making in the process. It’s a VERY stressful time of year. Just think about retail stores and customer service representatives who have to quietly and politely battle the tense consumers hiked up on holiday steroids. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
5. Regretful: When the bills come rolling in from money spent, not only do our wallets and bank accounts hurt. We hurt. Talk about buyer’s remorse. Gift returns are a huge part of this process. Coming down from the high of the holidays clears our heads again, but then the process repeats when that time of year rolls around.