The year is coming to an end and the “December syndrome” is reaching its peak. In the environment, at work, in the family, there is a certain climate of fear, exhaustion, overlapping activities, psychological stress and economic stress that affect the body and mind with its most obvious symptoms including extreme fatigue, headaches, lack of energy and irritable mood.
The annual financial statements are complicated by a large number of activities and closures. There is an overload of professional, personal and social obligations, as if the world is ending with the passing of the year.
It’s always the same and the result is clearly the same: we are exhausted. Experts say we are in an age of exhaustion, productivity and “self-enslavement.” Added to this evil of the times are hyper-connectivity, economic ups and downs, increasing work demands and the hustle and bustle of family life – or all of them.. That’s why you’re increasingly hearing “I’m exhausted” in response to the question “How are you?”
In the last month of the calendar, life becomes faster and more dizzying. The holidays require logistics and a whirlwind of emotions and expectations. Not to mention digital life, which also puts pressure. In December we face an agenda full of activities and commitments that are difficult to get away from. Additional energy expenditure or constant saturation with stimuli that increase fatigue and impair rest?
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The psychologist Agustina Rodríguez He says the word “end” carries emotional weight. We talk about closures, conclusions and of course they move us inwards. The “end of the year” – he claims – multiplies sensations ranging from relief and hope to dizziness. “Beyond our faith, the Gregorian calendar marks an inevitable transition point for us,” he explains.
At this point, December brings with it an additional burden of all the obligations already described. Rodríguez remembers that in this period the inevitable “musts” arise: “you have to meet before the end of the year”, “you have to attend the parties”, “you have to take stock”.
“This sequence of ‘we must’ accelerates us. It puts us on alert.” We want to meet everyone, achieve everything. This self-imposed – or social? – Demands to fulfill against the clock can lead us to a state of alertness or exhaustion. This tension directly affects our physical and mental health,” he says.
“I won’t give any more”
The psychologist Diego Tachella argues that end-of-year fatigue is not always an individual weakness, but the result of epochal factors rooted in the imagination of the “self-entrepreneur”. By this logic, he says, “society promotes self-exploitation, sustained by a toxic and pervasive positivity that repeats: ‘You can achieve anything on social networks’.”
“Psychologically, this has a devastating effect: every goal not achieved is experienced as a moral failure or the result of a lack of will. It is the perfect recipe for adding guilt to exhaustion.”he remarks.
Added to this structural exhaustion – which Tachella sees as cultural rather than individual – is the seasonal factor of December. What would normally be time to rest is replaced by an avalanche of events, commitments and family obligations, he notes.. The agenda, he adds, is becoming rigid, there is no room for change and the instability of the national context makes the false meritocratic promise of “if you try hard, you will get there” even more unattainable. The result is discouragement, fear and the feeling that you can’t cope with anything else.
There is also a third actor: the digital environment. “The mobile phone is the main claimant of attention, with reviews driven by the fear of knowing what is happening.”says Tachella. Remember that in Argentina the phone is used an average of six hours a day and is checked more than 200 times a day.
The expert assures that this hyperconnectivity fragments attention and avoids reflective boredom, that vital space in which “we process emotions, desires arise and creativity emerges.” Even – he emphasizes – family ties become stressful: WhatsApp groups demand immediacy and eliminate the natural pause of the call or meeting.
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In this context, he points out that the compulsion to enjoy (the social imperative to “be happy” during the holidays) “transforms leisure into performance”: celebrating, organizing dinners, buying gifts, planning vacations, while at the same time completing the personal and professional balance that is always expected to be growing and positive.
“Not only is non-compliance worrying, it is aggravated by comparison with the “perfect” life on social networks and with the idealized version of oneself projected last January,” the psychologist stresses, adding: “So we arrive in December with the feeling that resting is another task at hand.”.
The urgent and the important
Agustina Rodríguez points out that what is happening to us is a warning that perhaps it is time to “take the break that gives us breath”. The key, he believes, is distinguishing between what is urgent and what is important. He explains that “urgent” are the obligations that, if not resolved, affect a collective mechanism (work closures, academic deliveries). “Action is required here, but we can ease the burden. Asking for help is not weakness; delegating is not giving up; it is giving yourself oxygen,” he says. After all, no one is saved alone.
The “important” thing now is to give yourself space for self-care. “Placing our inner peace at the forefront is not selfishness, but a necessity. Returning to the body, to oneself,” he emphasizes. It can be simple things: a coffee in silence, a walk without headphones; a reading or a conversation without a clock. Don’t say yes to everything. Returning to affections is also part of what is “important.” “We may not be able to see everyone before dinner on the 31st, but we can arrive with a different look, calmer, with a different way of being. And then create a quality meeting with warmth,” he emphasizes.
When it comes to balance sheets, Rodríguez points out that there are always successes and losses, changes, setbacks and also joys. He says that balance should be a mirror, a learning engine to decide which emotions, bonds and habits we want to cultivate in the future. “May it help you travel more easily, authentically and authentically for the next cycle,” he emphasizes.
How to avoid falling into this cyclical collapse
Psychologist Diego Tachella suggests some strategies to reduce fatigue.
1-Reintroduce boundaries and restore the “no”: Select commitments and reduce intensity to protect free time all year round.
2-Conscious separation: Establish moments without technology and reduce WhatsApp groups to what is necessary.
3-Empathetic review of the year: Evaluate what was done and learned, “without claiming to be exhaustive.”
4-Adjust goals for the next year: include room for contingencies, short deadlines, clear goals, self-care, and non-binary criteria.
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