When your FA-LA-LA is BLAH-BLAH-BLAH….. How to shake out of that holiday funk!

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Does it bother you to be around people who ooze holiday cheer? Everyone who comes within 10 feet of them, gets greeted with an exuberant  “Merry Christmas!” Are you waiting on that staff meeting to start and getting irritated  by the second as your chatty co-worker talks nonstop about her Christmas shopping spree? Do you find it annoying when you stop at your favorite grocery store to pick up a few items and  everything has been moved to accommodate the holiday items?  And are you tempted to break your radio dial because Mariah Carey is singing All I Want for Christmas is You on every station?  If you are exhibiting any of these signs, you  my friend,  just may be in a holiday funk.

A holiday funk is not categorized in any diagnostic statistical manual or even recognized by the American Psychological Association; however, it does exists. Not to be confused with the holiday blues, the holiday funk will make even a mild mannered emotionally stable individual want to crush every Salvation Army bell heard, put duct tape around Chatty Cathy’s mouth and knock over every poinsettia plant within a 5 mile radius.

You first noticed symptoms of the holiday funk when your older cousin told you that Santa wasn’t real and your parents confirmed it later that evening.  That was right about the time your Christmas presents went from being those elaborately wrapped mountains of toys to one single gift card.  The following year,  you were drafted to the Christmas Dinner Clean-Up Committee.  They started you with simple task at first,  like clearing the dishes from the table, but pretty soon,  you found yourself elbow deep in suds and your Grandma Susie  yelling, “Be careful with my good china!” Grandma Susie never yells, but during the holidays, that eggnog gets her overly concerned about the good china.

As time goes on, your holiday cheer and Christmas wonder finds itself swirling down the funnel of Adulthood. One December morning, you wake up realizing that you missed the  Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and the dreaded holiday funk comes knocking at your door like the Po-Po. 

Being the  good citizen that you are, you drag yourself out of bed and let him it.  The holiday funk is at your house and you let him stay  because if you didn’t,  he’d Deebo his way in anyway. (Y’all remember Deebo from Friday, right?) So, now what?  You have holiday funk sitting on the couch of your soul,  with his stinky feet propped up on the coffee table and you have no clue of how to get rid of him.

Let me help!  Here are 5 ways to get rid of this holiday funk that has deebo’d his way into your soul: 

1. Remember the Reason for the Season

This is not just a cliche.  There is a reason we celebrate the birth of Christ.  He was the One sent by God to save our souls. I learned yesterday (Thank you Pastor Hall at Elizabeth Baptist Church-Conyers for that Word) that Jesus’s existence is a hypostatic union.  This means that Jesus was both God and man and that through His blood, we are saved.  That knowledge alone should  clear away the funk, but if it doesn’t, keep reading.

    2.  Volunteer at a Homeless Shelter or Food Pantry.

Many times, we get so involved with our everyday lives that we forget that there are people less fortunate that we are.  As humans, we all have an intrinsic need to help.  During the act of living, that “need” gets abandoned or we get jaded. When we tap back into it by volunteering, we feel better and enjoy the uplifting feeling you get when volunteering with like-minded people. You know, those people who like doing good, just for the goodness sake.  Be one of those people to kick out the holiday funk.

    3.  Go see a live production of A Christmas Carol.

No matter where you are in the country, there’s a Scrooge on stage somewhere. Get so engrossed in this story  that you’ve heard a million times before, but this time,  be bold enough to suspend your imagination long enough and put yourself in Scrooge’s shoes.  Evaluate your Christmas past and present and make changes now for a better Christmas future.

    4. Fake It until You Make It.

Our minds and bodies are so in sync that you can’t smile and remain in a funky mood at the same time; its virtually impossible. Go ahead,try it!  Have you ever faked laughter and then before you know it, you’re laughing for real? It’s the most hilarious concept to me! Give it a chance! Infuse a little fake frivolity into your day.  Before you know it, that holiday funk will start creeping towards the front door. At least he’s taken his feet off the table!

  5.   Lastly,  be vulnerable and tell somebody how you’re feeling.

I know, I know it’s hard being vulnerable – to let people see the real you, but you’d be surprised how much better you feel afterwards. Yes, I did say in #4 to fake it, but let’s face it, some of us can’t fake s@#t. So, be bold and start saying “Bah-Humbug!” to your friends and family and don’t just tell them the “what” of the matter; tell them the “why”.  They’re your people and they want to help. (Remember, it’s in our nature.)

A few years back, I had the holiday funk and didn’t feel all that celebratory and frankly, wasn’t much fun to be around. I told my friend/co-worker how I was feeling and guess what happened? She & a few other co-workers made it their mission to lift my spirits and get me out of that holiday funk.  Everyday,  I had something on my desk that made me smile – a card, a few Hershey’s kisses, even a bobble head Santa.  Around the 20^th of December, I came into work singing Silent Night as loud and as off key as I pleased (That’s a difficult song.).  I told everyone that since I was feeling better that they had to endure my off-key Christmas caroling until New Years.

I know there are many other ways out there to get rid of the holiday funk, but if they’re not working for you, try a few that are listed here. If they don’t work, at least you’d have a good laugh in the process.  Merry Christmas!