( Sadness doll from the movie “Inside Out”, CC ed photo Mark Longair on Flickr)
The American Holiday Season, wow! Thanksgiving, then Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa / “Festivus,” finishing up with New Year’s or Lunar New Year, all full of events and memories, usually quite a rush of living and good feelings and good will.
Perhaps it’s easy and fashionable to be cynical about certain aspects of the holidays, but in general, they’re a great excuse for folks to reach out to each other. The re-connections are usually fun and successful. But they can also highlight what has passed, what’s gone, what can no longer be. For all the joy, even giggles, there can be some quiet sadness.
Every day, though, caregivers might have what OldGuy calls “tiny sadnesses:” just fleeting moments, during ordinary caregiving chores, when a hovering memory or feeling becomes a flash of sadness.
So the tiny sadnesses get acknowledged, but they tend to be personal, whereas tiny joys, like a person’s smile, a response to a query, or a surprising look can be easily shared.
There was a fun animated film a few years ago, “Inside Out,” giving each of a complicated teenager’s emotions a different character: Sadness is blue for some reason (above), but Joy, in yellow, needs the whole team (even Anger) to get themselves together. The difficult goal, as always, is a happy ending!
OldGuy is not a psychologist, but is sometimes grateful for the tiny sadnesses, also glad for the distraction of chores at hand that must be done to keep things moving. So no advice, but other folks may be more helpful, writing about the 5 differences between sadness and depression, dealing with holiday stress, and ten things to do. OldGuy is not endorsing these links exactly, but each one might just be worth the click…..and Happy New Year, Blog Reader!
