A public celebration can overlap perfectly with a private disaster.

The world does not synchronise. A street can be full of celebration on the same evening someone in one of those buildings receives the worst news of their life, and neither event is diminished or made false by the other. Public mood is not a report on private reality.

So be gentle with yourself when you are out of step with the room, at holidays, at weddings, in a good season everyone else is enjoying. You are not failing to feel correctly. And be alert to the person at the edge of the party, since a celebration is a hard place to be carrying something.