(no subject)

[stormdog]

I wonder what the experience of having an emotional connection to the solstice is like. I've never felt much of an emotional connection to any such cultural/religious ritual. I'm glad the days will get longer.

I guess my strongest solstice memory is when I went with my ex to a solstice celebration friends of ours were having because it was a social thing to do. I met a person who started sort of dating me for a while and who then broke up with me because my ex was making the relationship too stressful. She (my ex) got really upset with anyone it seemed like I might be interested in dating, or who might be interested in me. Perhaps not the greatest memory to associate with such a thing.

I miss that person sometimes. I suspect we would not have worked out in the long run, but it would have been nice to figure that out for myself.

Comments

[cmcmck]

For me it has the wrong emotional connections.

Christmas was when I got slung out of the family home and rejected so it's always a hard time of year made harder by the dark of the year. :o(

[stormdog]

I'm sorry for that.

[basefinder]

"I'm glad the days will get longer."

I share that sentiment! I don't have an emotional connection to any holiday or solar event, but I found that acknowledging the solstice -- and the immediate though gradual return of daylight -- was helpful to my state of mind in getting through the dark days of early winter.

Debbie, on the other hand, cheers in June when the days start getting shorter. :-) We make quite the pair!

[stormdog]

Hehe! I love heat and Danae really does not. Though neither of us much like the cold.

[anais_pf]

You know, especially being poly (like you, like me), I feel as though not every relationship needs to have a "long run," don't you think? I had a couple few nice years with my boyfriend K. while continuing to be with A. (who I do think is a keeper for the long term), and I do not consider that the time I spent with K. was a waste or something I should not have done because the relationship was not going to last. So yeah, the person your ex kept you away from, effectively, may not have turned into a long term relationship, but it still would have been really nice to spend whatever time the two of you did want to spend together, without your ex's interference. (Maybe you should get back in touch with that person and express all this now?)

As for the solstice and its affiliated holidays, there is absolutely no need to connect to it if you're not feeling it. I find I have disconnected from it more and more over the years as the traditions I established crumbled away one by one.

[sabotabby]

I love the idea of solstice as a metaphor. I don't think it's by accident that there's a similar concept in so many religions.