Ever feel like the holidays are just one giant, thundering herd? You know, what I call the ‘holiday bulls.’ Everyone’s charging around, heads down, focused on some invisible finish line.
It’s not just the shopping, though that’s a big part of it, isn’t it? It’s everything. The pressure to have the perfect decorations, the perfect meal, the perfect family gathering. It’s like we’re all caught in this whirlwind, and if you’re not careful, you’ll get swept away or trampled.
Honestly, sometimes I think the whole point gets lost. It’s supposed to be about connection, peace, taking a break. But mostly it feels like a performance, and a pretty stressful one at that.
So, I Had This Bright Idea Once
A few years back, I thought I’d try to do something different. Something to counter the usual holiday madness. I decided to make these really simple, handcrafted ornaments. The idea was to offer a little piece of quiet in all the noise, you know?
I spent weeks working on them. Poured a lot of myself into it. I pictured people appreciating the handmade touch, a bit of calm for their tree or whatever. Boy, was I naive.
The moment I tried to launch my little online shop, the ‘holiday bulls’ really hit me. Here’s what I ran into:
- My tiny voice online? Completely drowned out by the big companies shouting about massive sales. It was like trying to whisper in a rock concert.
- Getting materials was a nightmare. My small orders were always last in line, delayed because everyone else was panic-buying in bulk.
- Then came shipping. Oh, the shipping. Packages went missing, arrived smashed, or just got stuck in transit for weeks. Every logistics company was overloaded, a total system meltdown.
- And the customers? Some were lovely, but many were just stressed out by their own holiday chaos. They’d take it out on me because a package was a day late, as if I personally controlled the entire postal service during December.
I remember one particular week, just before Christmas. I was spending all my time not making things, but tracking lost parcels and trying to calm down folks who were, understandably, upset but also incredibly demanding. It felt like I was wrestling a bull, or a whole herd of them, every single day. My little project, meant to bring calm, just became another source of holiday stress – for me and for some of my customers.
It pretty much flopped. I sold a few, sure, but the effort and the stress were just monumental. I ended up with a box of unsold ornaments and a serious case of holiday burnout.
That whole experience really opened my eyes. It’s not that people don’t want quiet or meaning. It’s just that the whole system, the ‘holiday bulls’ as I call them, makes it so hard to find. It’s like trying to plant a delicate flower in the middle of a stampede.
So now? When I see the holidays approaching, when I hear the first rumbles of those bulls in the distance, I just step way back. I focus on the really small, quiet things. No big projects, no trying to fight the tide. Let the herd run its course. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll be over here, finding my own little patch of peace, far away from the thundering hooves.
