Holding Both: Light and Darkness in the Holiday Season

As a health and wellness coach, I am deeply aware that the holiday season does not bring a single emotional experience.

In my coaching room—and in my own personal life—I am witnessing people holding seemingly opposing emotions at the same time. There is anxiety, grief, heaviness, and exhaustion. And alongside it, moments of joy, gratitude, love, and light. Both are real. Both deserve acknowledgement.

There is no denying the amount of suffering and sadness in our world right now. Many people are navigating loss, uncertainty, strained relationships, health challenges, or a sense that the world feels harder and less predictable than it once did. I never want to gloss over that reality or offer hollow reassurances that bypass real pain.

And yet, I also believe something else is true.

When we are able—even briefly—to quiet ourselves, to soften the body and settle the mind, we can sometimes touch into something larger than our individual struggles.

When we pause long enough to step out of the noise and the urgency, we may be able to sense the vastness that holds us all. It is there that many people experience a deeper essence of love and peace—what I believe is the background fabric of our universe, always present even when it feels hidden.

Across the world’s great faith traditions, we are reminded again and again that light follows darkness. This wisdom shows up in many forms, and in the Christian tradition it is powerfully expressed in the message of Christmas: the birth of new light entering a dark and troubled world. Not the denial of suffering, but hope arising right in the midst of it.

In the busyness of this season, I offer this not as a prescription, but as a gentle invitation: once a day, step out of the chaos for a few breaths.

Turn off the external world. Place a hand over your heart. Notice your breath. See if you can tune into the quiet strength, peace, love, and light that may be available underneath it all.

The winter solstice has just passed—the longest night of the year—and now, almost imperceptibly, the days are beginning to grow longer. Nature itself reminds us of this ancient rhythm: darkness gives way to light, contraction to expansion, rest to renewal. Even when we cannot yet feel the light, its return is already underway.

May we honor how hard life can be, while remaining open to the possibility that something steady and loving is holding us always.