After Holiday Letdwon Syndrome

I don'think I am the only one that sufferers from the phenomenon known as After Holiday Letdown Syndrome (AHLS). It is that day after Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) crankiness that afflicts both adult and child alike.

We work so hard in the days leading up to our winter holiday to make things 'just right'. Parents envision the rapture and joy on a child's face as he opens up those long awaited gifts bedecking the floor around the tree. Children anticipate just what they asked for as they stare longingly at the beribboned packages. We build it up to such epic proportions: is it any wonder that we feel let down the day after?

Things rarely live up to our expectations. The toy that looked so cool on the TV commercial is but a bit of plastic junk when all is said and done. Kids are often not as appreciative as parents feel they ought to be. Don't kids know what effort was put forth on their behalves in the gathering of all of the gifts, not to mention the labor of wrapping the accursed things?

What are we to do? How do we avoid AHLS? Should it even be avoided? Maybe we have to go through a day or so of depression to counteract elation of the days before. Perhaps this is what helps us reestablish our equilibrium, so that we can deal with real life again; it helps us to keep our heads about us. We can't go around all the time either in the high state of anticipation, nor in the low doldrums of let down.

Life is about the ebbs and the flows. We need to learn how to ride the waves, keep our brains on an even keel while dealing with the inevitable highs and lows. The only way to do that is to experience both the ups and the downs that are thrown at us.

I hope that those of us who suffer from AHLS will be able to get through today and come out on the other side a little wiser for the experience. Maybe?