Festivals are a time of joy. You have lights, love, laughter, and a sense of belonging and togetherness that peaks during this time. There are celebrations, photos and lots and lots of delicious treats. All these make sense as long as you have people to enjoy it with. But, imagine those who find festival seasons as the worst time of the year. I am sure there are a lot of unfortunate people who feel that way. People who don’t have anyone to celebrate with, people who are going through rough patches in their life and people who have given up on everything. Anxiety, stress and sadness accompanies the festive cheer. The depths of darkness felt during that time is unimaginable to the unperturbed but torturous to the ones living it. It’s probably the ‘Festive Blues.’
It is impossible to lead a life without a social connection today. Forget about avoiding your nosy neighbours by pulling down your curtains, it’s the connection that is everywhere attached via the digital world. They just bombard you with what you don’t desire to see or something that you are consciously escaping from. I know this is a topic addressed multiple items over the internet (including my old posts) but I simply can’t stress enough about how people live in a false world of show that requires constant validation. It appears that celebrations and private moments are manifested in obvious ways just to inform the uninformed. The need to make everything picture-perfect and share their moments of happiness with ‘everyone’. In this ‘everyone’ there are people who are well-wishers but may not be a happy recipient; because everyone apart from the members involved in it, would stop giving two hoots. It’s quite unfair how people who seem to have everything should have a need to show that to everyone around. While it is not possible to please everyone or probably gauge what the audience is going through before sharing, it would be nice if they take a moment before posting a fancy wholesome life to others who may not have all of that. Witnessing it is the hardest during festivals.
So, is it jealousy that we are dealing with? It is, if you are wishing bad upon the person showcasing all this. But, that’s not the case every time though, and sometimes you just wish you didn’t have to see all this because it makes you sad, you might not be in the right frame of mind to appreciate another person’s happiness (mostly pretense of happiness) . Explains why a lot of people decide to stay away from social media; it’s not jealousy. It is possible to shun a lot of this from acquaintances or people who you didn’t care much about, anyways, But, what if your close ones do it. Is there a polite way to not let that get to you? In reality, no. It is not possible to stay away from all of it without coming across as rude or odd. Hence, all the shenanigans continue around and you silently watch without reacting until it spirals into something unpleasant. Luckily, by then the festivities are over and everyone returns to normal (the pre-festive normal), and your blues have left you. Now, the others may face post-festival blues but not you. There’s probably a different kind of blue waiting for you.
