Opinion - It is a Season for Pause and Reflection | Dawan Africa

By Kepher Otieno - Reporter

24, December 2025 - Every year, the calendar gifts us a rare stretch of time—nestled between Christmas and the New Year—when the world seems to refresh.

The rush of deadlines softens, inboxes quiet down, and even our busiest cities move at a gentler pace.

It is more than a holiday break; it is a pause, and in a restless world, pauses matter.

End year festivities to many, are celebrations of generosity, light, and togetherness.

Whether marked by religious observance or cultural tradition, the festivities remind us to look beyond ourselves.

We exchange gifts not because they are necessary, but because they symbolise care.

In the last one week, we have seen several leaders hold community events to gift people with foodstuffs, essentials, or sponsor events.

Good. In Nyanza, Kisumu Central MP Dr Joshua Oron and Senator Prof Tom Ojienda have been leading examples of this noble initiative.

God bless. They are reaching out to the lowly and gifting them with assorted food stuffs.

Other leaders like Governor Anyang Nyong'o has also reached out with consolidating words for the celebrations, including Christmas, which is valued by Christians.

For those who celebrate Christmas, they gather with family and friends—sometimes joyfully, sometimes imperfectly—but almost always with the shared understanding that connection matters.

In a year often defined by division, this emphasis on kindness feels quietly radical.

Yet Christmas does not exist in isolation.

It is followed almost immediately by the anticipation of the New Year, a time filled with resolutions, promises, and expectations.

If the end year festivities ask us to give, the New Year asks us to change.

We vow to do better, be better, and live more intentionally. Gyms fill up, planners are purchased, and goals are boldly declared. Hope, once again, gets a deadline: January 1.

More from Kenya

ODM Sets Mid-2026 Timeline to Define Political Path

Kindiki Warns Motorists as He Hosts Tharaka Residents

The space between these two moments—gratitude and ambition—is where reflection lives.

It is where we can look back honestly without judgment and forward with humility rather than pressure.

Too often, we rush through this in-between time, eager to move on or start fresh, without acknowledging what the year has already taught us.

But growth does not always come from grand resolutions. Sometimes it comes from noticing what survived, what mattered, and what we can gently let go.

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” has become a familiar phrase, often said quickly, sometimes automatically. But within it lies a powerful balance: joy paired with hope, contentment paired with possibility.

To be merry is to appreciate the present moment; to wish a happy new year is to believe the future can be better. Holding both at once is not easy, but it is necessary.

As another year turns, perhaps the most meaningful resolution is not to transform overnight, but to carry forward the spirit we so readily embrace in December—patience, generosity, and care for one another—into the months that follow.

Imagine if the kindness of end year festivities did not expire with the decorations, or if the optimism of the New Year was grounded in compassion rather than comparison.

The holidays will pass, as they always do. But the values they highlight do not have to.

In this quiet space between Christmas and the New Year, we are reminded that life is not only about moving forward faster, but about moving forward wiser.

And that may be the best gift of all.

Mr Kepher Otieno - Senior journalist, columnist and media consultant based in Kenya.

**The opinion expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dawan Africa.