How the Holidays Can Improve Your Mental Health — Even in 2020
It’s been a long and arduous year. But that doesn’t mean the end of it has to be joyless. How nostalgia and mindset can make a difference in your mental health this holiday season.
Above, Penguin Lights Pictured at the Bronx Zoo Holiday Exhibit.
For me, Christmas starts the morning after Halloween ends, or as many refer to it in Latin America, All Saints Day. I can't get enough of the holiday season; November and December, to be specific. While some scorn the Christmas music that plays through stores for the two months leading up to New Years Eve, I thrive on it. And even in a year where there certainly has been a lack of gay happy meetings, parties for hosting, and caroling out in the snow, the 2020 holiday season has still brought a slice of normalcy and joy in what has been anything but a typical year.
"She must be crazy," some of you might be saying. "How could anyone think this is a normal Christmas?"
Normal, no. But many traditions can and have still been accomplished, from playing Christmas playlists on repeat at home, to gift shopping to surprise loved ones near and far away, to baking that favorite family sugar cookie recipe, and of course, many places broke sales records this year when it came to Christmas trees. Have you ever been home so much to enjoy that Douglas Fir? There’s a little silver lining.
My household took it a step further; we found new traditions that were also pandemic-friendly. The Bronx Zoo's socially-distanced outdoor holiday light exhibit, making up donation lunch bags for the needy — complete with hand sanitizer and masks, and drawing family secret Santa names extra, EXTRA early so as to be able to ship gifts if needed.
And of course, there are sadnesses. Some members will not be here this year in person, either because of death, budgets, distance, or safety. Some traditions simply are not possible for many, be it live shows, religious ceremonies, or perhaps because of changed financial situations.
But here is the good news: The spirit of Christmas and the holidays is here, it's free, and there is still time to embrace it and enjoy it. One way is to look back at the memories from past years, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Hanuukah, Christmas, or whatever holiday you hold dear, and find the joy that nostalgia brings. In fact, it’s scientifically proven that doing so can boost people’s spirits.
The Guardian quoted one researcher, Dr. Tim Wildschut, back in 2014 as saying, “Nostalgia compensates for uncomfortable states, for example, people with feelings of meaninglessness or a discontinuity between past and present. What we find in these cases is that nostalgia spontaneously rushes in and counteracts those things. It elevates meaningfulness, connectedness and continuity in the past. It is like a vitamin and an antidote to those states. It serves to promote emotional equilibrium, homeostasis.”
What does this mean? In a year where so much has been thrown OUT of equilibrium, picking up an old family photo album, your favorite traditional foods at the grocery store, or watching that same old holiday movie, is a very small and safe adjustment to the day that can make a major difference in your mood.
And if you simply are feeling like you need something new and fun before the year is over, that every day is Groundhog Day? Join me in trying out a new holiday recipe from my friend, Gena Hamshaw, RD. It’s one of the last things I need to check off my list for the season — a holiday favorite, gingerbread cookies!
STRESS-FREE VEGAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES
(as written by The Full Helping for FOOD52)
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup demerara sugar, coconut sugar, or evaporated cane juice
1/4 cup almond milk, soy milk, or rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Sift dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl.
Whisk together the oil, molasses, sugar, milk, and vanilla extract.
Mix wet ingredients into dry, using a whisk, an electric hand mixer, or your hands, until uniform. Flatten the dough into a disk and refrigerate, wrapped in saran, for 30 minutes (or overnight).
Dust a clean surface with flour. Roll the dough out till it's a scant 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes.
Bake cookies for 8 minutes, or until the edges are just browning. Let cool before serving.