December: The month that reveals our realities

BY KENNETH EMODI

Every December, the world seems to divide itself into two gentle, unspoken tribes.

On one side are the loud celebrants, the “this year has been good to me” crowd. Their timelines glow with graduation gowns, new passports, wedding rings, promotion letters, weight-loss videos, new homes, and the recurring trend “God did!” captions stacked like trophies. They aren’t showing off; they are simply relieved, grateful, and proud of how far they’ve come. December permits them to exhale and finally celebrate out loud.

And on the other side? A quieter, softer group.

They don’t have picture-perfect milestones to post. No flashy year-in-review videos. No trips to Zanzibar, Ibiza, Santorini, or closer proximities– Seychelles, Kigali, Obudu Cattle Ranch, Ikogosi, Olumo Rock. No wins loud enough to trend. But if you listen closely, in between the noise of social media, you can hear their December soundtrack: “Lord… thank you for carrying me through the year.”

These people survived things they never tweeted about; they fought silent battles, mental, financial, emotional, or spiritual; they held themselves together in ways data cannot fully capture, and yet, they made it.

Across the world, this pattern repeats itself. In the U.S. and UK, December marks the biggest spike in year-end reflection posts, LinkedIn achievements, Spotify Wrapped successes, and fitness milestones.

In Asian countries like South Korea and Japan, December is tied to renewal rituals, decluttering, gratitude ceremonies, and final performance reviews.

In Latin America, it’s a month of thanksgiving gatherings with families and reflective prayer events.
Wherever you look, December nudges people to take stock of the journey. But nowhere does this duality show more clearly than in Nigeria. If December had a headquarters, Nigeria would submit a strong bid.

Look at our data patterns: Instagram and TikTok see a sharp spike in December lifestyle and celebration content — weddings, “we outside” season, travel photos (Detty December) with the ‘I Just Got Back’ (IJGB) boys and girls, Hotels and Apartments’ prices hit the roof and year-in-review reels.

Google searches for “gratitude quotes”, “thank God for life”, and “how to survive burnout” rise sharply, showing that many are grateful just to still be standing.

Financial pressure increases, with inflation, school fees, December travel, and responsibilities making survival itself a milestone.

So when Nigerians post their wins, it’s usually after pushing through a system that demanded everything. And for those who choose silence, it is simply because even though their December may not glitter with big achievements, they honour the small mercies and the silent victories that carried them through.

December becomes a mirror — reflecting joy, exhaustion, survival, and gratitude all at once.

The truth? These two groups aren’t opposites. They are simply chapters in the same book.

The celebrants remind us that growth is possible even in chaos; The quiet survivors remind us that life is precious even when nothing seems to be working. And many of us? We oscillate between both realities year after year.

In some Decembers, you are posting achievements with confidence. Other years, you are whispering prayers and thanking God for emotional oxygen.

Both are valid.
Both are human.
Both are December.

Because social media has become our modern public square, a place where life is documented in real time. Nigerians especially use the internet to process their emotions: we celebrate loudly; we survive quietly; and we use December to make sense of it all.

It’s the month when comparison grows sharper, gratitude grows louder, and reflection becomes unavoidable.

If you are one of the loud celebrants, celebrate without guilt. You worked for this.
If you are one of the quiet thankers, your survival is a testimony in itself; embrace it.

And if you are somewhere in between, grateful, tired, hopeful, and unsure, that’s normal too. No matter which group you belong to this year, you made it here. And that alone is a December miracle.

Kenneth Emodi is a senior editor at Opera News and an editor at THEWILL News Media. He can be contacted via [email protected]