December Reflections: Finding Calm, Creativity, and Connection at Year’s End
December Is a Strange One People are gradually slowing down — or winding up so they can collapse on Christmas Eve and call it for the winter break. Families unravel over Christmas. Drinking increases. Domestic violence increases. There’s pressure to buy the perfect gift — something that somehow surpasses last year in meaning or surprise — even though most people don’t need more things. There’s food buying and menu planning, traditions to uphold or ignore completely. There are candles and chaos. There is summer or winter, heat or snow. There’s grief for the families we don’t have, or we lost, or maybe never had. And gratitude for the ones we do have — whether biological or chosen. There’s loneliness. A strange ache behind the ribs that’s hard to name. I always feel a pull to reflect this time of year. Who have I been? What have I learnt? Who have I loved? Have I been true to myself? Late December and January are the hardest for me. Looking forward to a whole new year always makes m...
