Celebrate the Season Your Way

Just like there are two sides to every coin, there are also two sides to celebrating the holidays.

The reason why so many love the holidays is because of aspects like the joy of giving, celebrating with family, socializing with friends, holiday traditions and making new memories.

The reason why you can come to dread the holidays is feeling exhausted, financial stresses, hangovers, weight gain and family drama.

For many years, the holidays were a mixed bag for me. The biggest issue I faced was feeling like I was running myself ragged…because I was!

I ignored my feelings and put my exhaustion on the side burner to be dealt with after the holidays were over. Only then would I allow myself to rest.

As you can guess, that didn’t work very well. Sure, I still had moments of joy, but they were tarnished by claiming myself as the victim to all the work that has to be done over the holidays.

Rather than play by those outdated rules, I created my own, which wouldn’t make me the victim to the dark-side of the holidays!

My #1 Rule: Listen to Thy Feelings!

This one rule makes everything simpler. Your feelings will tell you if you:

– Will feel inspired by gift shopping or exhausted.

– If you’re up for making cookies this year or need to purchase them.

– Feel joyful wrapping presents or if someone else can help you. (Nowadays, there are charitable events where you drop off your presents and you donate money for them to wrap for you!).

The great news is that as you practice the art of trusting your feelings, you will witness that everything does work out, even better, precisely because you’re valuing yourself.

Even when you don’t feel like doing things that are a must to you (perhaps putting up a Christmas tree), you can practice the art of trusting your feelings. Just because you don’t feel like doing something now, doesn’t mean you won’t in a few hours or days. Or, if you flat out don’t want to do something, bring understanding to why that no longer works for you. If it no longer works, then why would it still be a must?

If you give yourself the gift of validating your feelings, I promise that you’ll feel more joy, love and peace this holiday season.

While your uplifted feelings cannot be gifted to others, those around you will (if they are open) be able to receive the ripple effect of your vibrancy.

Your vibrancy is a light of hope in the world.

You get to decide if light, vibrancy, and hope are what the season means to you and, if so, how to celebrate the season in a way that is expansive rather than contracting and exhausting.

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