As fall comes to an end, the holiday cheer of December is at its full commencement. For most people, the holiday season is for the gathering of families, acts of service and gratitude, a break from work and school and a time to follow through with annual family traditions. However, as winter approaches, so does people’s fear of what is to come for the season ahead. Stress during the holiday season can be about the act of gift-giving, or also because some have to deal with spending the holiday season away from those who mean the most to them. In fact, according to the American Psychiatric Association, more than half of the population of healthcare workers say that the holiday season is responsible for feelings of anxiety and stress.

There is an immense population of people who dread the holiday season, which some call the “most wonderful time of the year.” Though not everyone follows the same holiday traditions, FHS students can still agree that the holidays, no matter how they spend it or who they spend it with, can be one of the most draining periods of the year. 

“Some things that can make the holiday season stressful is when you lose a family member [and] the holidays end up being different than before,” FHS senior Diya Kadadi said. “A month ago, I lost my grandfather so we don’t like celebrate holidays for the year after so the holiday season can be a sad time.” One source of worry during the holiday season can be the act of gift giving. It puts stress on those who cannot financially afford the gifts and especially on those who are expected to buy multiple gifts for several people. 

“I always leave my shopping to the last minute, so [it] gets a little bit stressful, but I usually can pull it together in the end and get everybody something,” FHS senior Sarah Branch said. 

As the idea of the holiday season begins in the early stages of December there is a stigma that revolves around following the “perfect plan” in order to have the perfect holiday season.

“In my family what, we do for gift giving a lot of the times if people don’t want to go find gifts for everybody we’ll just give the name of a charity that we want to donate to instead of getting gifts for everyone,” Branch said. “I think that’s something that takes stress off a lot. Gift giving is definitely stressful.”

Stress is also present because many people put pressure on themselves in order to fulfill others’ ideals of the festive time. This leads them to neglect their own needs and be  deprived of the leisure time that holidays are supposed to provide.

The holidays, even if they are known to be some of the most loving and fun times of the year, have moments of dread and doubt for many people. This can be one of the most demanding times of the year and a large burden that cause people to believe that there is no true holiday cheer to be spread. However, as the holidays come near there should be love being spread throughout family and friends during these special times.