This time of year can bring up many things for us, and not all of them are positive.
If you are a single parent, you can feel alone, overwhelmed and simply unable to bring the kind of Christmas to your kids that you may have had when you were younger. The pressure to create a magical environment at home with a tree, stockings and lights everywhere, with the smell of sugar cookies baking in the oven and presents flowing out from under the tree, can be incredibly devastating to some parents – ESPECIALLY when you are single and an Entrepreneur and the pressures of running your business are even more magnified during the Holiday Season.
I’m here to tell you I completely understand, you are not alone. In fact, you are in very good company. I am also here to tell you:
STOP!
Stop pressuring yourself, stop lying awake at night with anxiety about how you are going to pull it all off and if you really can go without sleep for a week and survive. Just stop.
The amazing thing about Children is that they are thrilled just to be alive most of the time. They have a ‘knowing’ that many of us have lost as adults – they live life fully and take joy in the little things. It is the Adults who train these kids to have expectations on things and to require ‘things’ to have a false sense of happiness through the Holidays.
This year, how about you take a break – a REAL break and truly come home for the Holidays? Does that sound wonderful? Of course it does – but it will take some discipline on your part to LET GO of all the ideas you have of what Christmas SHOULD look like. You’ve picked these ideas up from advertising, marketing and the other brilliant mind infiltration of our consuming generated culture. I’d like you to take a trip with me back into your childhood to remember the little things that made Christmas to you.
Some Memories could be:
- Catching snowflakes on your tongue
- Tobogganing down the hill outside your house
- Walking in the mountains while the snow falls around you and the moon is bright
- The connection and closeness of your family all around you
- Sitting by the Fire with a hot chocolate
There are many, many more memories you can dig up, I am sure. And did you take note that NONE of them had anything to do with THINGS? They all have to do with the true spirit of Christmas. The love, light, openness and gratitude for the blessings all around us.
To truly come HOME for the Holidays this year, it’s time to go back to what really matters. Teach your children the importance of gratitude, graciousness and the joy that already lives and beats strongly within them. Presents, lights, trees and everything else doesn’t bring us that happiness, they only serve as triggers. And let’s not invest in creating negative triggers around the Holidays for our children by being stressed out, frazzled and otherwise less than enjoyable.
Let’s create some positive triggers and powerful memories that have nothing to do with THINGS and everything to do with the HEART and love that lives within us all the whole year round.
Ok – sounds great you say – all Unicorns, and rainbows for sure – but in reality? How the HECK do I make that happen?
Well, it’s actually quite easy, and simple – as all the wonderful things in the world are. Go back to what matters. Here are six ways to find your Happiness for the Holidays.
Six Tips on How to be Happy for the Holidays.
- Turn off all News. This includes turning off your social platforms as well. All of it. Turn off that phone, shut the laptop and just walk away from it all. We have no idea how much this stuff infiltrates our daily lives until we actually allow ourselves to take a break from it.
- Connect with Nature – when doesn’t this just make your heart sing? It is grounding, it’s healthy and it’s the BEST way to bring your thoughts and energy back to the here and now.
- Fall in love with life. Love everything and everyone around you. See the beauty that is right in front of you every day – REALLY see it. That sunrise you woke up to this morning, the adorable nose on your child’s face. These are all miracles – appreciate them and treat them as such.
- REMEMBER: The best gifts are not THINGS. Shopping, shopping, shopping will not bring you happiness, it will just bring you ulcers and a drained bank account – it is not where joy lives.
- GIVE more than receive. There is nothing more powerful than the spirit of giving. Give of your time, your attention, your love and your happiness and watch those around you blossom.
- Finally – take a break from EVERYTHING. Shut it all off and just live within yourself and around your loved ones without any interruption.
I promise you – if you work on these tips during the Holidays you will find yourself coming HOME. REALLY coming home. Have a seat by the fire, put your feet up and relax. Welcome Home. xo
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
