Christmas music is bad for your mental health, British psychologist says?

JeepHair77

Bry_Lander wrote: »

If you have defined the holidays solely as a series of unpleasant "things [you] need to do" then sure, Christmas music will cause you stress.

However, if you view the holidays as a time to have fun with friends and family, take a break from work, eat and drink tasty things, watch a lot of sports, enjoy watching your kids open presents, etc., then holiday music likely will remind you of the positive aspects of the holidays and make you happy.

So if Christmas music stresses you out, maybe it is time to consider changing the way you celebrate the holidays.

I actually agree with this in concept, and it's exactly the effort I've tried desperately to make every year since I can remember. I try to focus on things I actually love: seeing the Nutcracker with my girls, watching favorite Christmas TV specials or movies, painting ornaments with the kids, laughing my *kitten* off while they make their gingerbread house crazier and crazier than the year before. We always participate in adopt an angel programs and try to get the kids involved so that they have a little perspective. We also started replacing the big "Santa" gift with a surprise charitable donation of some kind - again, because the kids get tons and tons of gifts and I want them to appreciate the "giving" side of Christmas. Last year, "Santa" made a donation to our favorite dog rescue to cover the veterinary bills for one of their foster animals. This year, I think it'll be a donation toward new children's books to one of the flooded libraries.

I actually do love wrapping gifts. My gifts are beautiful. My brain seems to find it weirdly satisfying. I pour some wine, light a fire, and wrap, for hours, one evening every year.

So despite my self-proclaimed scrooginess, I really do make an effort, but those pleasant experiences just get outweighed by the unpleasantness, for me. Sorry, but it's stressful, and not just because of my perspective. In my work, I tend to get BUSY toward the end of the year, so I don't get to take any real time off. My family gets BUSY this time of year, too, with final exams, holiday orchestra performances, school holiday parties, office holiday parties, and so on and so forth. Traffic gets worse, people get crankier, and despite my efforts to make the holidays about something OTHER than a gift-grab, every year, it seems the wish lists get longer and more expensive. Yes, it stresses me out and makes me sad, and I think a lot of people share that general feeling, and it doesn't mean that we're just doing it wrong.

Wow, that turned into a rant. Sorry 'bout that.