There's A Black Hole In My Holiday Heart

sym·pa·thy
1: an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other.
sym·pa·thize
1: to react or respond in sympathy 2: to share in suffering or grief : commiserate ; also : to express such sympathy.
A: " It gets so crazy this time of year that I feel just like Alice In Wonderland about to go down the rabbit hole."
B: "I know just how you feel."

ILLUSTRATIONS DERIVED FROM SIR JOHN TENNIEL'S 1865 DRAWINGS

em·pa·thy
1: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.
em·pa·thize
1: to experience empathy
A: "This time of year can sometimes overwhelm me with such a sadness that I feel like I've been pulled into a black hole."
B: "Yea, me too."

An illustration of the twisted space and distorted magnetic fields of a black hole. Courtesy: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Did you notice the word differences in the two definitions? The words "the action of."

I can sympathize because our rabbit holes maybe different or even the same at the holidays. What about the experience of the inability to resist the gravitational pull of the black hole. The being sensitive to the silly small things piling up and out of control in a depressed persons mind.

Because depression is such a unique process, it's hard to truly see or feel the black hole of sadness at the holidays. When does it start, the swirling a little, then a stop if you've caught it in time . Or it continues to swirl until it's too late and you're part of that black hole. Your depression has consumed you and now you have become the invisible.

in·vis·i·ble
1 a: incapable by nature of being seen b: inaccessible to view : hidden 2: imperceptible, inconspicuous