If I ask you a personal question will you promise not to take it the wrong way? Great. Do you, by any chance, have a tendency to martyrdom? I only ask because, as Christmas season looms on the horizon, the female impulse to sacrifice our own pleasure or free time in the cause of doing things for others gets particularly intense. Writing cards to people you haven’t spoken to all year. Making sloe gin to give as gifts. Buying stocking presents for the dog. Filling your notes app with endless lists.
It is a complicated thing, martyrdom, because it comes from a good place, but if you don’t keep an eye on it, it gets not just pointless (spoiler alert: the dog doesn’t care) but counter-productive. I promise that friends would much rather you arrived at their drinks party in a brilliant mood clutching a bottle of warm supermarket prosecco than overtired and crabby with a homemade gift.
