I seem to take a Christmas break whether I want one or not.
Part of me suspects that the reason that northern hemisphere societies favor a winter solstice festival is the recognition that this is a dark time for the soul. As the light diminishes, human energy goes with it. Some people are more affected by this than others. I am certainly one of those. For example, this simple little blog entry, the one you are reading right now, took me three days to write.
It almost goes without saying (as he says it) that this year has been particularly challenging. I’ve not felt the weight of grey, sodden skies as heavily as this in many, many years. Some years, here in the northwest, the winters are colder, skies clearer, snow more frequent. Other years, like this one, are a seemingly endless train of flat grey storms pelting water, where a rare day of watery sunlight is a thing to be celebrated. These years do dump a lot of snow in the mountains, the better to enjoy my favorite sport, but this year my ability to enjoy that sport is strictly limited.
I have generally found that I fare better over the solstice if I have something outside myself to keep me focused. Usually, the best thing is employment. I’m less productive there, too, as are many people, but at least I have the structure of a prebuilt social environment, and a set of tasks that must be performed. If I leave me to my own devices this time of year, I tend to fall into counterproductive patterns of scattered thinking and half-finished miniprojects.
Given that the goal of my current writing project, now entering its second year, is to replace my day job income with writing income, I will need to establish some better rituals around writing production. If I’ve learned anything about this craft in my sixty years of life, it’s that you can’t wait for inspiration.