Summer has a way of being sold to us as the season where everything should feel easier. The days are longer, the weather is kinder, routines loosen, and there’s this unspoken assumption that we should feel lighter, happier, more social, and more alive simply because the sun is out a bit longer.

There’s pressure to “make the most of it”. Pressure to fill calendars, to travel, to catch up with everyone you didn’t see during the year, to enjoy yourself properly before life ramps up again. For many people, summer quietly becomes another performance, another thing to get right, another season where you can feel as though you’re falling short if your energy, mood, or capacity doesn’t match the expectation.

You show up to work. You answer emails. You remember birthdays, make jokes in the group chat, and smile when the barista hands you your coffee. You seem “fine.” You seem “together.” You even tell yourself that you’re doing okay—after all, you’re still functioning.

As the calendar edges toward December, many of us start feeling the weight of the year. You’re not imagining it—the end of the year can genuinely be tough to manage, emotionally and mentally. Despite all the festive marketing and holiday cheer, it’s also a time when burnout, overwhelm, and emotional fatigue quietly set in.

So, why is this time of year particularly draining?

School holidays arrive with a mix of excitement, pressure, noise, and… more noise. As parents, we often imagine long, relaxed days, happy kids, and slow mornings. In reality, holidays can quickly become a juggling act of boredom, big emotions, shifting routines, and siblings who suddenly forget how to coexist peacefully.

As December rolls around, something interesting happens in the therapy room. People begin quietly confessing that they’re not feeling the way they think they “should.” Christmas is supposed to be joyful, warm, magical… at least that’s what the ads, movies, and social media feeds tell us. But for many children, teenagers, and adults, the Christmas period brings something more complicated: pressure, exhaustion, emotional overload, and a creeping sense of “What’s wrong with me? Why am I not happy?”

Perfectionism is one of those traits that can look impressive from the outside: driven, detail-oriented, high-achieving. But for many people, perfectionism becomes exhausting. It can turn simple tasks into endless loops of checking, revising, or delaying until things feel just right.