In the musical Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye (the protagonist) introduces the audience to his quiet town of Anatevka. He says, “Everyone of us is like a fiddler on a roof trying to scratch out a pleasant simple tune without breaking his neck."  

Tevye continues and says, “You may ask, ‘Why do we stay up there if it’s so dangerous?’ We stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word … TRADITION.”

Teyve’s monologue could easily be applied to our holiday season.

Each one of us is trying to scratch out a pleasant simple tune without breaking our necks during this season. Tradition is what brings Tevye a sense of balance. But, ironically, for many this time of year, tradition is what puts us out of balance. How can someone find balance in tradition, when so many of us find chaos and imbalance?

The answer is tough. Maybe it’s not the tradition that is imbalanced — maybe it’s us. In a fast-paced society that is ever-evolving, we have become accustomed to ease and convenience. 

The quest for a "productive" season

These days, we don’t have to be all that planful about gift-giving. We can hop on Amazon a few nights before and get something delivered almost the next day. This way of living has attuned us to expect ease and convenience wherever we go. The motto of American companies (hospitals included) is “productivity.” 

This motto has crept into every sphere of life, not just work. The measure of how efficient resources like time, labor and capital are used to produce goods or services — that is productivity. If that is the goal of life, then it is easy to see why so many headlines have titles like: “Three ways to simplify your home” or “Build muscle and lose fat at the same time” or “Five decorating hacks for the holidays.” 

What all of these articles have in common is the underlying premise of productivity. "How can I maximize my life with minimal input?"

What are traditions for?

Traditions, especially holiday traditions, are anything but convenient or productive. In fact, most of the time they are inconvenient. How do you prepare a holiday meal for family and friends, when you sous chef is an 8-year-old more enthralled with dinosaurs than the proper temperature of the oven? If the goal of life and living is to maximize convenience and be productive in all facets of life, then it’s time to bail on holiday traditions.

However, if the goal of life and living is something else — something deep and abiding and unexplainable at times — then holiday traditions set the table and create space for us to encounter these moments. 

We encounter them when Uncle Bob laughs at the inappropriate joke Alison just shared. It’s the smell of baked goods coming from the kitchen. And the hearts of the people in that kitchen that are warmer than the oven. Maybe it’s the silence of the voices and the warm hearts that are absent this year. All of these are little reminders that life and living are something different than productivity and convenience.

So consider this possibility: Stop weighting the merits of your holiday traditions based on whether they are convenient or not. Start viewing your holiday traditions as a time to recenter and ground yourself with who and what really matters in your life.

After all, as Tevye concludes, “Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as … as a fiddler on the roof."

We're excited to bring you this series, Navigating the Holidays, from Salem Health's Staff Engagement and Resiliency Advocate team. Our SERAs hum away in the background, helping us through good times and bad times.