I do not know about you but for me, the first couple weeks after the Holliday Season can be daunting at times, even overwhelming. As a child I remember thinking there was something wrong with me because I was not a fan of the Holiday Season. The part I loved was all my siblings coming home and having a full house. I loved watching my mom fawn all over everyone including my father. Once everyone started their own families or moved apart from each other, we started to celebrate in October which really works for me! No pressure, no expectation other than to show up and have fun (and sometimes a little good old fashioned family drama).
In the past, I would be stressed to the max with a school full of students preparing to graduate and a new batch about to start in January. It did not leave me with time to think about the actual holiday season. The past couple of years, there has not been much happening (thanks to the pandemic). The first year I found myself feeling the same old familiar stress, anxieties coming on and wondered what is it about? Can it be the New Year? The expectation of having “New Years Resolutions?” I do not and have never actually set New Years Resolutions as I do not believe in putting that pressure on myself so why the overwhelming feelings?
This year was completely different, and I want to share why. It may come off as too simple to be true. Here it is:
Keep it simple. Do not go into the New Year thinking about what you want in relation to what you do not have. Do not think about what you did in the past years and how you will do things differently in the coming one. Facing reality can be a wonderful thing but I encourage anyone who may be stressed and overwhelmed to try new dreams rather than concentrating on old dreams that may not have come true for you over the years. Look ahead, look where you are and go where you align with your personal happiness. Go into this year NOT thinking about anyone or anything that you feel was “done to you” that was undeserved, meanspirited or negative. You are better off to have space freed up for new stresses and hardships that are bound to in the coming year. If you have cleared the cobwebs of the past, you may not see the new bumps in the road as boulders. Nothing good will come out of going into a new year thinking about the past ones unless it is fond moments into which you are diving. Hope you can get there, if not this year, in the ones to follow. xox