Here we are, in the present day, ready to dig into the second part of my journey through this time of the year where the scones get swapped with mince pie.

This second post is about mental health, mostly mine, but it’s not a joyful post about Xmas, so you are warned.

What triggered this flow of thoughts was the conversation through texts I had with my friend the other morning. Check my previous post if you want to know what I’m talking about. Again we often forget that not everyone has the same baggage and the same perceptions on things: in this case, Christmas.

Christmas is for many the season of family time, parties, shopping, lights, and of general merriment. If you are not aligned, you are the Grinch. Thank you very much.  But not everyone has a happy family, friends or money for presents.

As soon as the magic of Christmas as a child disappeared, the festive season turned out to be a pretty hard time for me. I learned to tolerate it in recent years, but for many years it was the peak of an already sad time. Short and dark days can have an impact on mental health, and since I’m prone to depression, every time Xmas time arrived, it felt like the train wreck I was on was finally crashing into a wall.

When you grow up in a dysfunctional family, having more time to spend with your family is not a jolly prospect, it’s a depressing threat.

When you suffer of anxiety, crowded shops and lights are a frightening sight. Christmas parties and 12 pubs of Christmas? Bottled death.

When you are single, conversations about New Year’s Eve plans are unwelcome as your period on the first day of a seaside holiday.

My situation has improved over the years, but I’m always on the edge with my mental health and I carefully thread my way around the festive season and too festive people. The message of this post is not to stop being joyful, but if you are, please remember that the Christmas experience is not the same for everyone. Don’t call Grinch someone just because they don’t “like” the lights, and red, and sparkles.

It is an extremely stressful time: get the presents, meet people, crowds, social events. The pressure of the current year being over and a new one starting, end of the year at work, exams, wrapping up this and that. That’s a lot to bear when already juggling between a mind that tries to drag you down in a dark pit one day and shoot you in the stars the following.

So, that is it. Just a different perspective on Christmas from a long-term Grinch. See you next time for a post about the Christmas and the future of our planet.  In the meanwhile, here’s a picture of pretty Dublin as a proof of my attempts at Christmas.

It didn’t last. Once I did my business in the bookshop, I dashed back to my cave and enjoyed an assignment-free evening aka cats on the interwebs.