You Don't Need To Perform Joy This December

By Leyya Sattar

Every December, a familiar pressure rolls in. A pressure to be cheerful, energetic, grateful, sociable and relentlessly "on." The workplace mirrors this too, with end-of-year deadlines, performance reviews, team socials, "positive energy", and manufactured momentum.

But the truth is, you don't need to perform joy to be included. Not at work. Not in your personal life. Not anywhere.

This is especially important for people navigating burnout, stress, anxiety, marginalisation, or workplaces that haven't always felt inclusive or psychologically safe. This is the season when emotional intelligence and emotional regulation matter more than ever, both personally and organisationally.

At Other Box, we've spent nearly a decade supporting organisations in building cultures rooted in emotional well-being, inclusion, and genuine human connection. What we've seen year after year is that the pressure to "feel festive" can be deeply harmful when people are already carrying emotional heaviness, chronic stress or the impact of exclusion.

The Hidden Cost of Forced Positivity at Work

In many workplaces, December becomes a testing ground for socially acceptable performance:

• Show up to every event

• Be upbeat

• Express gratitude

• "End the year strong"

• Pretend you're not exhausted

But forced positivity does not contribute to building an inclusive workplace culture, nor does it cultivate psychological safety. From a DEI perspective, this pressure lands unevenly:

• People of colour may feel expected to assimilate into majority cultural traditions.

• Neurodivergent colleagues may struggle with the social overload.

• Disabled colleagues may find the pace and sensory demands inaccessible.

• Anyone dealing with grief, financial stress, family conflict or burnout may feel isolated by the pressure to be cheerful.

When workplaces rely on emotional performance to signal "good culture," they miss the deeper work of emotional awareness and mental well-being.

Your Feelings Don't Need To Match the Season

December is loaded with expectations across cultural, emotional, familial, financial, and social areas of our life. But your inner world has its own rhythm.

You may feel:

• tired

• reflective

• overwhelmed

• lonely

• burnt out

• overstimulated

• relieved

• ready to withdraw

• somewhere in-between

And all of that is valid! Please remember that honouring your emotional landscape is a form of intelligence and doesn't indicate any weakness. It shows self-awareness, emotional regulation and the capacity to respond from truth rather than performance. These are the skills that prevent burnout, strengthen mental health and deepen connection.

What Emotionally Aware Workplaces Do Differently

Workplaces that take emotional well-being seriously create cultures that support people as they are, not as the season dictates, and recognise that:

• well-being fluctuates

• December may not be joyful for everyone

• Pressure to perform happiness harms mental health

• emotional honesty builds trust

• Inclusion means making space for the full range of human experience

Instead of demanding festive enthusiasm, they encourage:

• gentler workloads

• realistic deadlines

• optional social events

• genuine check-ins

• flexibility

• psychological safety

• compassion

This is what actual DEI looks like in practice, beyond your statements, goals and policies!

We Need More Humanity and Less Performance

Joy is beautiful when it's real, and not when it's demanded. So don't encourage people to perform this December, i.e. "but it's Christmas!", "Where's your festive spirit?" Etc.

December doesn't need your performance, it requires your presence, your honesty, your boundaries and your capacity to listen to yourself. And workplaces need this too. Because emotionally aware people create emotionally aware cultures, and emotionally aware cultures reduce burnout, support mental health, strengthen inclusion and help everyone feel like they belong.

This is the work we're committed to at Other Box:

Transforming workplaces from the inside out with emotional intelligence, cultural awareness and genuine human care at the centre.

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We're doing December differently at OTHER BOX. Our anti-productivity advent calendar is our stand against productivity pressure, unwanted resolutions, and the relentless grind that drains your energy every winter. Over 12 days, we're sharing reminders grounded in emotional intelligence, discernment, self-regulation, and self-care to help you move through the festive season with clarity and ease and step into January without pressure or performance.

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If your organisation is thinking seriously about the future of work and how to build cultures that value people as much as performance, let's talk. At Other Box, we partner with organisations to build ethical, inclusive, emotionally aware cultures where people and progress move together.