I was talking with a friend during after-school hours at the playground today. She mentioned that she has been struggling with this in-between time of year — with winter not fully arrived and autumn’s warmer and more colorful days long past.

Lately, I’ve been finding myself in a lot of conversations like this. But as we talked this afternoon, I began to think that there may be more to this “betwixt and between” feeling, that so many moms I know are experiencing, than simply the change of seasons.

Regardless of our individual life stories, a thin veil of anxiety and worry appears to be hanging over most of us. And it’s really no wonder. The economy comes up in almost every hockey-rink-sideline chat I’m involved in. Either a friend’s husband just got laid off, or a couple someone knows is in deep water with a home they can’t sell in a town where they can’t find work. Of course we’re on edge!

If the bottom hasn’t already dropped out from under us, we’re afraid it might happen at any time. That feeling of security – and perhaps naivety – that we enjoyed only a few months ago is now a happy memory. We’re worried about our jobs, our savings, our homes, and our futures. 

So if it’s not just a Vitamin-D deficit, and the uncertainty of the economic climate is really what’s bugging us, then how do we get out of our funk in time to enjoy the holidays?

I think that the answer lies in two life skills that I’ve personally been working on for years: letting go of fear and learning to adapt readily to change.

If we can accept that we don’t have control over most things in our lives — even though we like to think that we do — then we will be less attached to each situation’s outcome. And if we’re less attached to the outcome, then maybe we’ll be better equipped to ride whatever tide comes our way.

As for the holidays …. maybe we can start trying to see uncertainty as one of this season’s mysterious gifts. 

Christmas is really all about love (in the active tense). And we love most effectively in the here and now. Perhaps that uneasiness we feel about not-knowing-what’s-coming-next should be a cue to us to embrace the moment that we’re in – and to celebrate, more earnestly than ever, the love that we share with our families, our friends, and our neighbors.