It’s true, the holidays are different now. 

In college, nobody is dressing up in their Halloween costumes to class and parading around the school. Our assignments don’t involve turning our hand prints into turkeys and hanging them around the room. The professor isn’t making us hot chocolate and putting on “The Polar Express.”

Most of us won’t return home at the end of the day to a decorated home and shining Christmas tree. In reality, a lot of us will return to dimly lit dorms or student apartments.

We will stay up late into the night catching up on assignments before returning home and sleeping the weekend away or picking up extra shifts at work.

The holidays are different because we’re older now. 

Getting older sucks.

This was not the life I imagined when I was younger, wishing I could fast-forward to being an adult who could do whatever she wanted.

But this is the reality. I have responsibilities that involve getting my assignments done and working to pay the rent. Suddenly, my Christmas list has been reduced to an uninterrupted 12-hour night’s rest in my bed and my rent paid in full for the month. 

It’s easy to not see what made the holidays feel so special when we were younger when the plight of adulthood is obscuring our view. But I’m here to say the holidays aren’t dead just because it isn’t reminiscent of the ones we had during childhood.

Now that we’re older, we can redesign what the festive season looks like to us. 

To me, it looks like focusing on what brings me comfort and happiness.

My favorite part about Halloween growing up wasn’t the candy, it was dressing up.

For one day of the year, I could be anyone I wanted to be and show it off to the entire neighborhood. While I might get weird looks if I try to trick-or-treat without a child at my adult age, I can still dress up for the occasion and parade myself around the local bars. Somehow, the feeling is still the same. 

I’ve never cared for traditional Thanksgiving food. I would sit and push around the food on my plate with a fork when I was younger. I have my own apartment now, and I can make myself whatever I feel like eating. Or even better, I can order take out. 

What I loved the most about Christmas at my mom’s house was the warmth from the decorations and how she managed to make Dec. 25 feel like the most important day of the year. I try to emulate the same feeling in my own home.

I’ll force my boyfriend to watch the same movies we’ve seen a million times before so it can feel just as special as it did when I was younger. 

The hard truth about being an adult is no one is going to create the moments that made your childhood self giddy for you.

You have to do it on your own. 

You can make time to drive around neighborhoods and look at Christmas lights. You can spend the money to make the Halloween costume of your dreams and eat all the candy you want. You can plan a Friendsgiving if your friends are your found family. 

You don’t have to spend money or have the biggest family to have a “successful” holiday season, but you do have to be willing to put in effort to get anything out of it.

While we have other responsibilities and the world feels like it’s on fire sometimes, it’s important to do something for ourselves to keep our sanity.

Maybe you’ll dread this time of year a little less.

Faith Fistler is an opinion writer. Contact her at [email protected].