Christmas 101: embrace the grumpy that lives in you 10-12-2019
By: Nicholas Higgins
Contrary to the positivism that many people, some of my psychologists and coaches may display, there are many of us who feel differently: grumpy. And I ask, what's the problem with feeling like this at this time?— None!
The overdose of Christmas music in shopping malls, the forced joy of another family activity, the hangovers, the double salary for everyone but one, having to buy gifts to fulfill, and not even say the pajamas that many consider ridiculous but that we have to put on for family photos, many of us give the impulse to run for the hill to hide.
Fortunately, there is a figure, Nordic by the way, who represents the antihappiness of the period, and is an accepted, valued and appreciated figure — Schmutzli — the anti Santa Claus. If Santa is good, jovial, generous, cheerful, kind, familiar, then Schmutzli is his opposite: grumpy, bad, malicious, stingy; and even steals the gifts from the children. Congratulations, that's what I say!
Thinking psychologically for a moment, the problems that affect us at times are precisely the result of adopting an overly extremist (one-sided) perspective. Exaggerated joy gives no space for the unhappy, and that lack of space is what induces the hidden symptoms of Christmas — depression, sadness, loneliness, addictions. Schumtzli's figure seeks to recognize the need to have opposites in balance to feel whole. “Light” and “shadow” go hand in hand like Santa and Schumtzli.
So..., for those who feel like grumpy at Christmas, I applaud them, because they are supplying precisely this dose of antihappiness also necessary. Do you feel that way? Embrace that grump and share it consciously and with your loved ones.
