Week 50. On Cookies

As the calendar year are coming to the end, the holiday season is pulsing all around us, for some people it’s a time of cheerful gatherings, work parties, brushing elbows with people we are related to in the kitchen, celebrating the joy of connections in the circles of like minded people, brought together by a shared interest or a hobby. If that’s you, I celebrate you and hope that you cherish those moments of gathering and connectivity. For others, this time of year doesn’t look anything like a scene from a holiday movie. There's a substantial number of people facing the leading weeks and the celebratory days alone, without the merry nature of the holiday, without people to connect to, a budget to spend for gifts and tasty goodies, maybe remembering times where they had people closest to them they spent the merry celebrations with, maybe only counting hours for this loneliness to end. In my environment, over the years I’ve seen many elderly people struggling with not being with their loved ones for the holidays. For many less visible reasons, as well as the obvious ones - a lot of their peers have already passed away. But the more recent times, and even scientific studies conducted on the topic, have shown that more and more younger people add to the amount of folks who are having a tough time before and during the holidays because they are feeling lonely. A growing number of people have less people to lean in on, to share a meal and to have a meaningful conversation with. Therefore, quite naturally, emotional health can decline at this time of year. For someone already going through a seasonal depression swings this painstaking reminder of their loneliness can potentially be even harder to bare so if you, my dear reader, are one of those people, please know that you are not alone in this, and that taking care of our emotional well being should be as natural as brushing our teeth so if you need help to navigate this season of life, please reach out for it. That only shows the strength and commitment to keep going, to keep showing up for yourself, even when it gets tricky or close to unbearable. Life can get tough but you are even tougher cookie so know that this too shall pass and be the delicious, soft on the inside, uniquely shaped and sparkly on the outside cookie that you are, and don’t count the people that don’t love you, count that one that really matters. Spoiler alert, it’s you!

Have a week of boldly taking care of your emotional wellbeing