Holiday Cheers Not So Cheery The Day After

We’ve all had that feeling, the one where you wake up the morning after. You know how it goes, you pop that one eye open, the one that barely has enough fluid to crack open, only to survey the damage. First there is the physical damage. The first discovery is how badly you are going to feel that day. You know the minute you open up your eyes and your head begins to tell you what your body is feeling. The second recognition is the damage that you have done to your reputation.

You begin to go over the evening like a movie that you are recounting. You start by trying to recall the cast of characters you encountered. You flash back to the beginning of the night when everything seemed tame, you were happy to see new and old friends, made idle chit chat with people that you know, catching up with some that you haven’t seen since the year before. Then you fast forward through the hours to recover the ending to your story.

As the evening progressed you vaguely remember talking to people whom you didn’t know. Making new friends, finding commonality with people who you hadn’t known before. You remember getting louder, more boisterous, more friendly as the evening went on. And then it hits, it happens, you have a memory of yourself doing something so uncharacteristic, so horrific that it makes you shudder. That’s right, you were the character that you see with the lamp shade over your head, the one dancing on the table, the one passed out on the bathroom floor. That’s right, you were the idiot who made a complete fool of yourself last night. Now what?

The feeling of panic soon begins to set in. You wonder who many people you offended, how many people you upset or angered, what the true damage to your debauchery is. You recount the faces of the onlookers as you performed like a circus act, only no one was paying for tickets to watch, and from the memories you have, no one was really enjoying the show. You soon realize with horror that your love interest, will probably never be your love after that display or worse yet, you can kiss that promotion goodbye after your boss got a gander at your antics. About ten minutes after your awakening you are considering your options for recovery.

You begin to go through your plan of attack, your options for repair. Do you call everyone and apologize? Do you get on the old Facebook and begin your campaign of self penance? You begin to make your list of those who you need to say sorry to, make amends with, apologize profusely to. Perhaps this year, however, you should just wait it out and let it lie. Sometimes by making the rounds to say you’re sorry, you only make people recount a scene they may have forgotten themselves It is that time of year when you let your hair down and you were probably not alone. The very people you are worried about are probably popping the same eye and feeling the same remorse. So, if I were you, I would let it lie, ignore it and wait for someone to come to you.