Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Sadness Journal | Page 17

Sadness within Holidays
By: Alyssa Guinn
‘Tis the season to be jolly? Holidays are meant for joy, love, and spending time with your family,
however, the holidays also bring arguments, stress, and sadness. Holidays have become idealized to be
perfect family gatherings in which every one is happy, which makes the holidays difficult when these
“idealized” images and expectations are not met.
The start of the holidays begins with Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a holiday in which people
should give thanks for the blessing of harvest, however, has become a day which families gather to be
thankful for their gathering and the food that joins them. With this being said, Thanksgiving continues to
have high expectations. Thanksgiving has become a competition in which families compete for who has
the better food, decorations, and the most family and friends. Additionally, following Thanksgiving, is
Black Friday in which Christmas presents go on a large sale and people fight over gifts. How is this sup-
posed to create joy and happiness?
People use Pinterest throughout the year looking and saving recipes, decorations, and plating ide-
as to have this “picture-perfect” Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving has quickly become a competition for
who has the “better” turn out. It has become this competition because families post pictures of their din-
ner on different social media platforms for the most likes and comments. Additionally, Thanksgiving has
created high expectations for the food, party, traditions, and family. This can then create stress and sad-
ness because people want to “out-compete” others.
17.