Sometimes it’s better to go with what you can manage
- Karen Wilson: Family Corner
- December 19, 2024
- 171
Now that Christmas is just a few days away, nearly everyone I meet asks if I’m ready for Christmas. How do you answer?
Do you moan and rattle off all the things you still must do? Does your mind start to spin trying to figure out when and how all those things will get done before the big day?
Or do you grin and say everything is good to go.
The holidays have a lot of hype. That can add more stress to your days that probably already had enough stress in them. When exactly did the fun go out of the season? I hear more people talk about the negative aspects these days. People talk about financial difficulties and exhaustion brought on by purchases and preparation.
Hopefully, all that leads to the wonderful, amazing, over-the-top holiday they imagined, but it can lead to disappointment.
So here you are a few days before Christmas. What do you do? Maybe start by taking a deep breath and reminding yourself of the things you appreciate and enjoy. Assess what you have done and what you have remaining of the things you had planned. Are you all done? Are there things you could set aside, delegate or simply not do this year?
Sometimes it’s better to go with what you can manage and be happy about, rather than trying to meet your expectations or those of others.
What things about the holidays make you smile the most? Lean into those things.
Maybe you have all the things done this year, but you feel exhausted. Write yourself a note for next year. Remind yourself of the things you could have chosen not to do.
Someone I was listening to recently mentioned she took on too much work during the month of December last year. So she wrote a reminder in her organizer to help her avoid doing the same thing this year. She said it worked so well she has already written it in her planner for 2025.
Buy fewer presents but enjoy them more. Have smaller gatherings so you can spend more time with each person. Plan to attend fewer events but choose carefully the ones you do. Put up just the extra special decorations.
Find ways to skip or minimize the parts of the holiday season you don’t like. No one in our family likes to put away Christmas decorations, so we limit the number we put up so they can be put away in an hour or less. We have had a strict policy that everything has to fit in one box. It’s worked great for many years.
If you get great joy by going all out for the holidays, by all means do so. But if you find yourself dreading more than enjoying, make some changes. Talk to your family. Find out what traditions they hold most dear. Which ones could they skip?
Try an experiment next year. Make the changes you have in mind and see how it goes. You can go back to the things you usually do if you don’t like the changes.
Whether it’s extravagant or simple, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season.