How New Year Arrives Late in Brazil (or, How I Disappeared From TCL for Three Months)

You know that feeling you get when you go back to work on Monday after vacation? I think very few would call the feeling "inspiring."

Now imagine that you go to work on Monday, but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are holidays. Now how do you feel? Are you telling yourself that you will wait to get serious until NEXT Monday?

I know from past experience, it means that I am waiting for the end of Tuesday to arrive so that I can start my extended weekend. Monday and Tuesday are like a waiting period similar to the time that passes while you wait to see a doctor.

Sound familiar?

For those of us in Brazil, we experience an extended version of this between New Year's Day and Carnival. This is a time when people openly admit that life doesn't return to full swing until Carnival has passed. A recent viral open letter post playfully made reference to this fact.

What's the result? For an American that is new to Brazil, this makes for a feeling of extended holidays. It means that the general vibe is more relaxed than I am used to. For an English teacher, it means you can bet your ass that no one wants to study until the hedonism of Carnival is gently tucked in for the year.

Once Carnival has passed, as it recently did, life goes back to normal.

Students study. Teachers teach. Rental properties are emptied. Traffic dies down. Employees return to work. Hobby bloggers even return to their keyboards (ahem).

It's almost as if the holiday season in Brazil, the holiday season that Americans are accustomed to getting two weeks for, is almost two months long.

From Christmas to early February (this year), Brazilians kept attitudes light and thoughts on weekends, family time, travel, and trips to the beach.

Brazil is such a unique and beautiful place, it's no wonder its people are able to keep their focus on leisure. Maybe this is one reason the country has a reputation for taking its time when it comes to getting things done. Sometimes outsiders complain about this casual period, but I choose to see the positive side of it.

This country has so much passion for life that it doesn't let the pressure of what they have to do the other ten months of the year take their concentration away from enjoying what's at hand.  

Brazilians know that nothing is permanent, so they may as well enjoy as much as they can. There is no urgency to return to our routines and occupy ourselves with an abundance of focus on things that bring pressure and, sometimes, stress into our lives.

These magically upbeat people choose to focus on the extra time they have with family and friends, the extra time they get to go play fresco ball, surf, or visit other cities and countries.

Are they milking it? I don't let myself see it that way.

So, if you every hear someone complain about how hard it is to get things done in Brazil during the time between Christmas and Carnival, just remind them that there are important things in life that need their attention. 

Routines will always be there, maybe the time to create memories won't.