How to Survive Your Own Family This Holiday Season

-A mental stability Guide-

Soap Box Time…

As I take a gulp of pumpkin flavored beer and ponder about life, I find myself reminiscing the good and the bad about the holiday season. It’s kind of a mixed bag.

In my opinion most people fall on the extreme points of view: love the holidays or hate the holidays. Even pop culture pokes fun about our feelings toward the holidays. The topic of the movie Christmas Vacation takes advantage of this phenomenon to the fullest.

So for the those pessimists out there - maybe there’s a way to see past all of the negatives. Maybe for what work we put into it, we get a whole lot more than we originally thought.

Remembering What Defines You

You might not agree with your family all of the time, but you can bet your bonnet it’s conditioned you in some way or another. A family’s belief system is always your first belief system whether you like it or not. You’re born into it. It isn’t until the teen years that one might start to form his or her own opinion about the world. In most people this awakening actually happens much later, maybe not even until the early 20’s.

Be that as it may, no matter if you align your beliefs with your family or not, it’s part of the reason you believe what you believe. At the very least we can reflect on this going into the holidays this year. The fact that you are what you are because of those crazy people you call family!

Knowing Family Will Always Be There for you

If you’ve been fortunate enough to not have personal problems that affect your basic necessities, well you’re in the minority. For the rest of us we’ve had to rely on family for these sticky situations. It’s usually too personal to be inconveniencing friends - so family is always the obvious answer. What would it be like if family didn’t exist, knowing that there wouldn't be a fallback when life happens? The shit would hit the fan - that’s what.

So think of the holidays as an emotional investment in your portfolio. You only have to put something in a little at a time to become rich.

Sacrificing Proves Devotion

Family gatherings are fun for little kids and very old people. It’s nothing against little kids or the elderly, but it has to do with the stress and pressure involved with planning and hosting family events. That said, one can’t leave sight of the entire reason why we do these events in the first place. The purpose is to show devotion to the family as a whole. It's actually very utilitarian when you think about it.

so in the end maybe there’s more to the stress and the pressure of the holidays. It’s all what you make of it.