Day 14. Light It Up

"Lights chase the night bears away"

With Christmas falling so close to the winter solstice, this can certainly affect the way some people feel about the holidays. What we hope to be a joy-filled time can often be filled with darker emotions. The nights fold us into midnight skies earlier and earlier, especially for those who live in northerly regions of the globe. It means that at this time of the year people head off to work in the dark and arrive home in the dark. Which can be depressing for some, especially those who deal with the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD--the suffering from extreme forms of depression and other symptoms due to the lack of sunlight).

Personally I'm fine with the early dusk -- I find it cozy -- but there was a time some years ago when I was not well in body and soul, and I found when it started getting dark out, I would feel unsettled and uncomfortable. In truth, I hated arriving home in the evenings to find the house standing in total darkness. It felt most unwelcoming.

So, I decided to do something about it -- I draped a couple of strands of twinkly white lights over the fig tree that stood near the front window of my living room. I added a timer and plugged it in, adjusting the timer so that it would trigger the lights to come on shortly before I arrived home.

It changed everything for me. Knowing the tree would be alight when I got home, as I walked into the house, I felt much comforted and cheered.

A lamp near a window, also on a timer, can create a welcoming ambiance. And, with the ability to use battery-operated candles these days, a person could safely set a candle or two on a window sill.

Chase away those night bears by turning on some lights. And let joy return.