In December, something happens that has nothing to do with decorations, panettone, or gift algorithms. That something happens in your head. Neuroscience refers to it as anticipatory cognition: as a transition approaches, the brain adjusts attention, motivation and perception of the surrounding environment. In wellbeing psychology, a related concept appears: the anticipatory relaxation response, when the body begins to slow down even before an actual break begins. This is what happens every year with the measurable, recurring holiday mindset: a slight detachment from routine that should not be read as distraction, but as a neurocognitive necessity. The mind settles in, much like that tree covered in baubles and lights in your living room.
When attention starts to drift
We stop noticing familiar details like the colleague speaking too loudly, and suddenly become aware of things we usually ignore: the muffled sound of the corridor, the sense of closure when we shut the laptop. This shift can be traced back to neurobiology. When the brain senses an approaching threshold, it cuts away the superfluous and sharpens its focus on what matters. December can therefore be seen as a selective month: it preserves what truly counts and leaves everything else with the promise of “we’ll pick this up again in January.” Paradoxically, this very selectivity is what makes the famous end-of-year rush feel more chaotic. We try to close every task, but the mind, already busy preparing for transition, no longer follows a straight line. It’s like working with a built-in Advent calendar: each day opens a small window, and a portion of attention drifts elsewhere.
The workplace, in soft focus
Observing a workplace at the end of the year becomes an interesting experiment in cognitive economy. Pauses grow more frequent, conversations lighter. These are gestures we adopt when something is about to end: we move through the final stretch with one foot in the present and the other already elsewhere. The workplace turns into a sequence of micro-phases, setting its own pace of movement and of thought.
This is December: a month in which the mind prepares the choreography, lightens the plot and rearranges the props. And when the moment finally arrives, we are already ready, without quite realising it. Ready for what? Well, for long meals at the table and watching Trading Places as if it were the very first time.
