How are you? How are you REALLY? The holidays bring up a mix of emotions—joy, excitement, anxiety, and exhaustion to name a few. In the middle of all the festive goodness happening around us, we may be grieving the loss of a loved one, feeling stretched financially, dealing with health issues, facing great uncertainty, or feeling apprehensive about spending time with extended family. It’s fair to say that many of us may be carrying a heavier-than-normal mental load as we process all of the beauty (and stress) that comes with the holiday season.
Today we’re reminding you to press pause. Take time to assess and fully feel the emotions that may be coming up for you during this busy time of year. It’s a fitting moment to put your mindfulness practices into high gear. The more emotionally aware you are, the better equipped you’ll be to make decisions that ensure a balanced, happy, and restful holiday season.
We touched on this seasonal mindfulness in our recent post 7 Ways To Avoid Overscheduling This Holiday Season where we urged you to consider doing less. Why? Because when fewer commitments are vying for your time and attention, you can invest more energy in the things you really value. This gets tricky over the holidays, because it’s the celebrations and traditions we love that can also end up depleting us!
There’s another reason to avoid overscheduling this season: to make space for spontaneity and new traditions. Remember the magical feeling when a spur-of-the-moment idea comes together? Or how nice and refreshing it is to learn about and adopt a new-to-you ritual? If our calendars are bursting with parties, plans, and tight logistical maneuvers, we leave little space for life to surprise us.
To round out today’s little pep talk, I’m leaving you with a few beautiful words of wisdom:
“Find peace in unexpected places, and take deeper breaths. Even in the rush of life, you are free to slow down. ”
