channelmono:Happy Candlenights, my lovely monitors! This year has been a wild one, and but I hope th

channelmono:

Happy Candlenights, my lovely monitors! This year has been a wild one, and but I hope that you’re all having yourself a safe and lovely holiday with your friends and loved ones, however you may be enjoying yourselves!

I won’t pretend that this year hasn’t been a forkin mess for a lot of people, but as much as we have in some way been forced to change how we live our lives, I don’t believe for a second that the pandemic (or the new conditions for it) have “ruined” how we celebrate the holidays.

Holidays are very strange when you think about it. They are social constructs of celebration self-perpetuated by widespread agreements that they should be celebrated. But bc social consensus is very broad, yet nebulous, how we “agree” to celebrate them is a very fickle thing.

Despite how we culturally view the holidays, our “traditions” are ultimately of our own as individuals. To many, it means being with family and friends in giant parties. To many others, it may mean chilling at home alone with a warm blanket and a Twitch stream.

The pandemic has certainly made us change our habits, but not uniformly. To many, social distancing has resulted in this being their first Christmas alone. To others, it might be business as usual. Times change, rituals change, we change.

Folks have asked: What’s the point? Is it even worth participating in these holidays when the world has changed this drastically? Can we still act like we believe in what we value anymore when the world has become this frankly dangerous and scary?

My personal answer: yes!

I, for one, LOVE ritual. Ritual anchors us in time, it gives us something to look forward to, it provides a moment to reaffirm what we believe in, and it’s one that even when apart, we can all share. It is proto-self care, which heavens know we all need right now haha

Sociologically, we as individuals place value in an everchanging tug-of-war between our desire to be individuals, but also be accepted by others. To be special, and to be loved. This is what celebrations like these are made out of.

Even to folks who DON’T celebrate any monolithic holiday like Christmas in a “traditional” way, we all still desire that sense of love and belonging, just on their own terms we can decide for ourselves. We all want a holiday! Let’s decide what it is!

Because everything is so different, now is the time not simply to mourn the loss of a world that once was, but understand what we truly cherish in the world going forward, and how we wish to build that for ourselves. We’ve made it this far. What shall our next step be?

No matter how messy this year was for you, we reached the home stretch, and with this holiday season, I hope we all ruminate on what we truly cherish in the world; the unity, sharing, and love that will drive us into the future together. Even while we are apart, we will never be alone.

The world is a strange, sometimes uncaring and dangerous place filled with hurtful things you may not understand. And yet despite that, there is no telling how beautiful you may become.

Happy holidays, and here’s to the better, safer, happier future we all dream of.