When the Holidays Knock on my Doors

In my country, having a holiday goes beyond the dates we usually see on the calendar because they are moments of break—breaks that usually allow us to feel alive again, take a pause from work, get to spend some quality time with our family, link up with friends, and have some quality rest that the body needs. Whether it is all those random general holidays within the month, or the Christian Christmas holiday filled with family members and plenty of yummy Nigerian jollof rice, or the Muslim Eid Mubarak holiday where meats and different delicacies are exchanged, holidays always feel special, and they always bring people together.  And most often, amidst all these holidays that we often have, something usually comes to my mind that always makes me ask if those random or general holidays are really enough for us. In my country, life is not easy for a common man, which makes it seem tough in a way that going out of the house every day always feels like a relay of survival, from some unpredictable circumstances to unplanned spending, to high cost of living, to bad electricity supply from the government, to bad economy, and these things mean a lot to me, which makes having holiday periods that I can feel relaxed like a normal human being again like I said earlier. The holiday period always gives me the opportunity to link up with my friends, visit those dear to my heart, and probably visit my hometown like I occasionally did with my parents before my grandparents passed away. The long holiday period always creates room to rest properly without thinking of deadlines. And on the contrary, having a very prolonged holiday could result in another thing. Like what happened in 2020, it was a forceful, stretched holiday that affected everyone across the world in a way that mostly all the business owners were complaining. Schools were shut down, marketplaces were closed up, and religious houses and offices were not excluded. And for my country, where the economy is using one shaky, shaky leg to stand, too many holidays can crumble a lot of things. ||| |-|-| ||| And with what I said above, we still need to balance everything. I am not saying we do not need holidays; we only need those holidays that really matter and count, where you and I can stay back at home in our rooms and feel recharged again. Above all, an individual who is properly rested will always give a better outcome than someone who is stressed out. So for me, a short holiday spent together with those people who I cherish is far more important than a dozen days of holiday that I am still attending to work because my life is also about creating memories and not only living. What is the essence of having a long holiday, and my boss is still sending tons of work to do and submit before a particular deadline? Holidays are meant to be enjoyed the way I deem it fit. --- Thank you for reading. > _{Images created by MetaAi}