The time between Thanksgiving and New Years is generally called the Holiday Season. Many eagerly await this time of year and probably just as many dread it. This is the time of year where depression is at its deepest and ugliest.
The commercials and chatter on media are extolling the virtues of family togetherness during this holiday time. Also, TV and movies have the big fat turkey strutting into the kitchen. Also, a wonderful happy Christmas season in full color, big and bold. There are a huge number of people that can not relate with this feeling. They either have lost their families or never had one. Those that still have some family are not all able to provide anything for them. A large number of these are not able to provide even essentials before. Let alone presents for Christmas or turkey for Thanksgiving.
Over the years, I have talked with more than one person during the holiday season who was holding a gun and ready to end it all. “I can’t even take care of my babies!” “What good am I?” They could be addicts, alcoholics, or just plain mentally exhausted and depressed. I have seen this to lead to Christmas Eve being the most violent night of the year. Suicides, homicides, assaults, many forms of violence.
Then comes New Years. The first official holiday of the new year. The pressure is now officially off. Everyone can return to their own lives. Albeit very good or horribly bad. But the internal pressure is now gone. Relief is settling in. Does this mean that all is well? NO! Just that the added pressure of feeling guilty is now lifted.
What is the gist of all of this discussion? It is that if you are feeling sad, low, or depressed during this holiday season, just concentrate on working your program 24/7/365. If you do this, you WILL make it through fine. You can believe me because I did not learn this from a text or in a lecture hall in college. I learned it by living it and being with others who were in the same situation. WE MADE IT THROUGH! If this formerly very large, very violent, very angry, well armed man can do it, so can you. I KNOW you can! God bless you!
Oh, yes! At the Flint, MI St Andrews Soup Kitchen we are in desperate need of blankets, warm jackets, warm coats, sweaters, sweatshirts, shoes, boots, work boots, warm socks, gloves, mittens, you get the idea. This is located on Flint’s notorious East Side. It is in the middle of one of the most impoverished, most violent cities in America. Most of our patrons are homeless and living on the streets or in abandoned or burned out buildings. It gets very cold this time of year. Many do not make it through the winter. Some by freezing to death.
Oh, yah. The water is not drinkable either. You all probably know of the leaded water scandal in the city. The City of Flint does not have ANY shelters. Even the churches are closing because of going broke. If you have any of these types of items we would appreciate it if you contacted us. We can figure out how we could get them. You could help someone make it through another day or night. You could make your holiday season even better knowing that you added warmth to someone who is surrounded by cold, both temperatures and mentally. God bless you all!
Please let us know what you think. We can be reached at Spiritualityandrecovery@gmail.com or 810-965-6140 usually within hours and many times instantly.
More can be found on our other pages. We have an AA Zoom meeting, blogs, and a podcast. Also our Facebook page. They are updated regularly. We hope that you will join us on these sites. And please comment so that we can share with each other our experiences, strengths, and hopes. The Zoom meeting is every Monday through Friday, 3:00 PM EST. Meeting ID is 6035280704. Password 399778. It is simple to locate the blogs and Facebook pages. Just search @Spiritualityandrecovery. For the podcast, search Spotify.com for Spiritualityandrecovery. On iPhone say “Hey Siri, Play the podcast Spiritualityandrecovery.” Or, “Hey, Google. Play the Jim Boylan podcast.”
