“Happy Holidays” is a greeting that is meant to be generic, not specific. It includes celebrations as diverse as Thanksgiving, Sukkot, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and many forms of Harvest Festival. Some holidays are secular holidays (New Year’s), some are religious (Christmas, Chanukah) and some are mixed (Thanksgiving).
For those of us living in the northern hemisphere, the “Happy Holidays” are celebrated during the bleakest time of the year. The hours of daylight are getting less and the temperatures are dropping. The effect of this can be emotionally depressing. A medical term for those with a seasonal loss of energy, sleepiness, feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, failure, or depression is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This mood disorder often occurs at the same time every year, typically beginning in the late fall or early winter.
My grandparents never heard of this disorder. They seldom even used the word “depression” unless talking about the barometric pressure or a low spot in their yard. I am far more aware of all the possible illnesses I might have. I ask, “What’s wrong with me?” a lot more often than they did. When they found themselves “out of sorts” they would say, “Oh, I’m just a bit down today. It’ll pass.” I, on the other hand, fear I might have a serious illness and think, “there must be a prescription medicine for this!” They just went ice-skating. I self-diagnose and go online to three different medical sites, check for symptoms and after an hour convince myself, “Oh, I probably won’t die of this today.”
I was surprised by the low percentage of those who have SAD. I assumed almost everyone did. According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 5% of adults in the United States have it. I suspect, though, if we asked our friends and neighbors if they have SAD, at least one-third would say, “Yes, absolutely.”
Persistent Affective Disorder
Although we may not be officially diagnosed with SAD, perhaps we suffer from what I would call “Persistent Affective Disorder”? It is easy to think ourselves into “Unhappy Holidays” and walk around muttering, “Bah, humbug!” as we observe all the troubles around us.
- “My son is 32, not married, not really looking.” – Oh, my!
- “My granddaughter eats too much junk food. I fear she will be overweight.” – Oh, no!
- “I did a poor job as a father. I don’t want to repeat that as a grandfather.” – Oh, drat!
- “The world is a mess!” Oh, boy!
- “The church is worse!” – OMG!
- “What’s a grandparent to do?”
Try this instead:
- My son, thank you for him!
- My granddaughter, what a precious gift!
- Make me a great grandfather!
- Help my grandchildren make the world a better place!
- Thank you for the faith the church has passed on to me!
- Let’s do this!
A new way of thinking
Perhaps we need to ask God for an early Christmas present this year: a new way of thinking. As it says in Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” It’s definitely something worth thinking about!
This article by Mike Shaughnessy is reprinted from a Grandly post dated December 15 2024, copyright © Grandly Missions, 2024.
Top image credit: An artistic rendition of a lit candle, from Bigstock.com, © by nagib, stock photo ID: 20206862. Used with permission. Scripture passage added.
Mike Shaughnessy is a lifelong member of the Servants of the Word, an international ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord. He is a prolific writer. He has written extensively about youth work and currently leads Grandly, a ministry helping grandparents pass on their faith to their grandchildren. He lives in Lansing, Michigan USA.