How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.

approach to life is the fact that minor defeats tend to assume titanic proportions when one has staked every¬ thing on immediate success. Many an individual who begins life with a strategy of assault on yvork is sidetracked into a neurosis early in the game because of unforeseen difficulties on the way. The solace of excuses is the emergency exit of many whose ambition has been stopped by the actual realities of existence. The deeper security of the nervous breakdown remains for those who fail at the moment of seeming success. Those who fail on the way exhibit a galaxy of neurotic symptoms—chief among which is the “ holiday neurosis ”. The holiday neurosis is the constant accompaniment—the danger signal, so to speak, of this false style of life. The Holiday Neurosis The following symptoms characterize the holiday neurosis : it occurs chiefly on holidays, and enforced vacations away from the scene of business activity. Irascibility, irritation, “ nervousness,’’ “ blues,” de¬ pression, or vague anxiety are the most usual emotional symptoms. Frequently the individual with the holiday neurosis is simply more cranky than usual, less considerate of his family or servants, or more critical of his surroundings. Occasionally there is a tendency to drink to excess, to play golf to excess, or to indulge excessively in cards or gambling. One of our patients had a splitting headache every Sunday for twelve years but never suffered a twinge of pain during working hours. Another went to bed as soon as a holiday came. A third got into his motor car and drove at breakneck speed toward some distant point on the map, turned round and drove back just in time to get to his office. The reasons for the holiday neurosis are a failure to develop accessory activities and social interests which make necessary or occasional recesses from the active business of earning a living interesting and meaningful. In effect, the holiday neurosis is the prototype of the