like all the fuckin ads with the hugging families around winter. any educationally normal adult knows everyone just gets more stressed, with travel and gifts and social obligations and everything, but you’re not even allowed to…openly feel that, it seems? it’s like there’s this happiness benchmark you have to reach, otherwise you’ll feel even shittier and sadder for not having a happy holiday season
Truth: I have seen no ads “with the hugging families around winter.”
It’s not the holidays that are causing angst. It’s the ads.
And they are easy to opt out of:
Choose platforms, legal or otherwise, that do not expose you to ads.
Yes — we have family coming and I was up at 5am cleaning — but I’m glad I’ve done that. Extrinsic motivation is what it takes to get me to do unpleasant tasks — so I agree with you about the stress piece.
But perhaps not seeing all the schmaltzy advertising makes the holidays more bearable?
"if it wasn’t for thanksgiving, the house would never get cleaned."
-my mom, every other year (when we ‘hosted’ the dinner… for her folks and her siblings’ families).
For me, it’s not the ads, my husband and I cut out most exposure to those a while back and are still stressed. It’s the sheer amount of obligation, the lack of time to rest. Between thanksgiving and new years, between both our families, we have 6 birthdays and 4 major holidays. It’s exhausting. I don’t even want to celebrate my own birthday this year, I’m moving it to spring lol
I don’t watch TV & internet ads are blackholed on my network.
It’s not the ads. It’s all of it.
Yeah — a lot of expectations… all that adulting…