Norman Knight: Days after holidays are not so sweet

If all goes according to plan, Dear Readers, you will be wading through this column on Feb. 15, the day after Valentine’s Day. At the same time — again, if things go according to schedule — I will be sitting in a dentist’s chair wearing safety glasses and blanketed with a heavy vest having a permanent crown fitted onto my upper left back molar while yesterday’s Valentine’s celebration is just a sweet, fading memory. Thus, life goes on.

What is the day after Valentine’s Day called? Technically, all holidays are preceded by an “eve,” just because the word means “the period of time immediately before an event or occasion.” Some holiday eves are considered part of the celebration observation and some aren’t. Christmas Eve comes to mind, almost as its own separate holiday. It seems to me, referring to “Valentine’s Eve” would be understandable and would make sense to most people. Others eves, well, maybe not so much. For example, “Fourth of July Eve” seems nonsensical, maybe even a little pretentious. Come on, folks, just say “July third” and move on.

But the day after the holidays seems to be just another day in the collection of ordinary days on the calendar. True, some people, mostly those from British Commonwealth nations, celebrate the day after Christmas as Boxing Day, but other than that, I’m hard-pressed to think of any other post-holiday 24-hour period as anything more than just another day.

I have heard some people say the day after any holiday seems a bit stale and listless. Could this be because the holiday period we are coming out of was so lively with social activity and charged with intense sensory experiences? Is it because during these special days we grew in knowledge of ourselves and the world? Or is it because waking up after a holiday usually means trudging back to The Rat Race, The Day to Day, the Same Old Same Old?

Settling back into regular life after an intense experience requires some adjustment. Sometimes it’s smooth, and sometimes it’s a jolt. But the fact is “Everyday Life” is a hard truth, a reality to which we all must accommodate. Perhaps how we face and accept the Daily Grind is the key.

From the beginning, wise ones have told us that contentment with what we have — what we are given, some might say — is necessary for day-to-day happiness. Siddhartha known as the Buddha claimed contentment is the greatest wealth. Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelias wrote those who live with the gods constantly show a soul that is satisfied with what is assigned to them. Socrates said, “He who is not content with what he has, would not be content with what he would like to have,” and the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament says we should be content with what we have ”because God has said ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

Of course, it might be argued that it is easier to be content when your basic needs, food and shelter and safety have been met. That is likely true for most of us, but it is also easy for most of us to confuse basic needs with wants and desires that go way beyond survival mode. There is a difference between contentment and striving to have more. Is this what we are to learn from the days after holidays: That everyday, ordinary life is enough? Maybe.

Yesterday I had a joyous, sumptuous Valentine’s Day, but today I am eager to get back to everyday life. Honestly, at this point, I will be content to get out of this dentist’s chair.

Norman Knight, a retired Clark-Pleasant Middle School teacher, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].