Doctor's last words in the Chronicle spoke of stress at Christmas

Cresswell: the expectations around Christmas are stressful on often already stretched budgets.

A Coroner has ruled popular Whanganui doctor Chris Cresswell took his own life and secretly battled depression.

He was a regular contributor to the Whanganui Chronicle and wrote his final piece lamenting the pressures the Christmas season exerts, particularly on the poor. The piece was published 12 days before his death.

"The stress of Christmas gets to most of us," Cresswell wrote.

"I am lucky - I am a male, therefore the societal pressure on me to shop and prepare amazing food is much less, and I'm very lucky to be married to a wonderful shopper and culinary genius. I am also well paid.

"For many others, the expectation that we will eat and drink copious amounts, that we will attend lots of parties, that we will buy several new and exciting presents for everyone in our families is a massive weight - and it is tough on already stretched budgets.

"Everyone gets tired and scratchy, and the domestic violence rates go through the roof at this time of year."

He wanted people to take a step back before going out and spending big ahead of Christmas.

"Most of us in New Zealand have enough," he said. "We don't need more."

He spoke of how advertising convinced us to buy a lot of stuff, eat a lot of food and drink a lot of alcohol as if we were programmed to do it.

"But we don't have to succumb to this.

"Could we not get together and get each child one good-quality present that would be appreciated and would last?

"Could we not buy each adult a useful gift for a poor village overseas?"

Cresswell proposed buying a goat or seeds for African villages via Oxfam or World Vision instead. He also talked about how great homemade gifts can be.

"I'm not saying "Bah humbug" to Christmas itself, just to the over-commercialisation of it, to the gross consumerism that we have been convinced we must - literally - buy into.

"Maybe we can do better this year and make Christmas about religion, family and friends, and not about stuff."

*This was taken from a story published in the Chronicle on Saturday Jan 7. It can be seen here.