What Holidays Are For
Shells in the Sands Series #2
The intention for this series is to share cherished thoughts and reflections of life in bite-size pieces. I have been an avid journal writer since my early teens, and most of the original writings were initially captured in my personal journal. I have chosen the most pertinent ones to share with the world through this series. This joy is similar to picking out beautiful shells while walking on a sandy beach.
Happiness seems to depend on leisure, because we work to have leisure, and wage war to live in peace. ― Aristotle
This year’s holiday season is upon us, which invites again the question I have been pondering “what are holidays for”? My answer has been evolving as my life continues to evolve.
Before I started my professional life a few years ago, I very much had the mentality of a child, that holidays are to celebrate special occasions. For children, and for those who have adults in their lives carrying the bulk of life’s weight for them, holidays are magical times of celebration. Tasty food, good clothes, laughter at family gatherings, memories from vacations, traveling, all add a magical spark to holiday occasions. Many people recall remnants of sunshine from their memory bottle to warm up the holidays later in life, when those magical sparks have begun to fade. My post Nostalgia written at the new year transition last year is an example of this fashion.
When my career started to take a hold on me, and the weight of making a living started to fall on my shoulders, holidays stood out to me as time away from work, as a retreat from responsibilities of adult life, as a respite from the wear and tear of a working career. I enjoyed the time to rest and relax, to take a breather to decompress, to conserve energy for the next battle. For the past few years during the new year transition when I have a few weeks of down time, I enjoy simply slowing down. I use my intellect for one hour or two a day, and the rest of the day just spend time riding bikes, walking around, daydreaming, curling up and hibernating for a nap, in accordance with the tradition of the season. It felt delicious.
As I gradually get a hold of my career and have developed the confidence that I am succeeding, I start to see holidays as my “not-for-profit state of being”. It is time to put the center of my attention to what is usually kept at the margin during my daily grinds. It is about focusing on the needs of my heart, such as writing this “shells in the sands” series, such as reviewing my whole year’s journal entries and empathizing with my younger self in the process. It is about turning my attention to the “thriving” side of life instead of being tied down by the “surviving” weights of life.
As I gain more spiritual maturity, I also started to see holidays as time to enjoy solitude. I used to desire big family gatherings like the way it was when I was a child. But my rose colored glasses about families have been lifted, as has my envy of big family gatherings. Instead I find solitude quite enjoyable. Arthur Schopenhauer said, “Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.” Maybe those who do not have a robust inner life may find leisure time boring and have the need to fill it with frivolous entertainment. But for some with a rich inner life, leisure time is a gift. Instead of heaping their demands for pleasure on the external world, they enjoy their inner treasure free from worldly disturbances. In that sense, the more wisdom I gain, the more I cherish holiday time for its spaciousness and its luxury of leisure time.
Now I can honestly say holidays are all the above for me: a time of celebration, a time for rest, a time for pursuits of the heart, and a time to enjoy solitude. These different functions are like a prism that reflects life’s richness and abundance. What do you believe holidays are for?
