Life

Enjoying the Silence

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I write to you from the couch in my quiet living room, while the rest of the house is still asleep.  I will be in a similar position tomorrow morning as I have not been blessed with a child that wakes me up at the crack of dawn.  I will more than likely have to wake her up so that we will have plenty of time to open presents at home before the craziness of the day begins.  For many people, that is what holidays are like.  Not the silence, but the loud, bright, craziness that comes with having family all in one place.  For many this can be an extremely overwhelming time.  We feel the need to make everything absolutely perfect, which is impossible because we are not perfect and that makes us forget about the true purpose for the season.  There is the religious reason for the season, but then there is also the reason of family togetherness.  While I have always dreamed of having a child that wakes me up in the middle of the night to excitedly tell me that Santa came, I have also began to enjoy my tradition of sitting by our Christmas tree with a cup of coffee enjoying the beauty of the lights and the calm before the storm.  I have started to take the time to reflect on the pass year, memories of Christmas past and those who are no longer with me, and to just breath.  So this Christmas, I encourage each of you to find that moment.  You do not need to reflect on  your life if you do not want to, but take that moment to enjoy the holiday and breath.  If your house is too crazy to do it in the morning, stay up for a bit after everyone is asleep.  Can’t find a quiet space inside, wrap up in a blanket and sit on the porch.  You will be amazed what just taking a few moments for yourself during the busy time will do.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Thankmas?

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Do you celebrate all of the holidays in your house or do you jump straight from Halloween into Christmas?  With retailers rolling out decorations for each holiday earlier every year, it seems like people are feeling like they need to follow suit.  I have a co-worker who has already started putting up her Christmas decorations.  I am a strict weekend of Thanksgiving (or later) Holiday transitioner.  My tree stays up until at least the middle of January and anything that can pass as a winter decoration will stay up even longer.  We do agree on the transition out of Christmas, but it is that transition in that causes a lot of good natured ribbing between the two of us.  My husband, knowing my stance and upon seeing a Christmas ad, attempted to “innocently” ask why our Christmas decorations were not up yet.  He received the death glare and was curtly reminded that we celebrate all of the holidays in our house and the Christmas ones would make their appearance appropriately AFTER we have given thanks.

Where do you fall?  Are you in such a rush to get to the end that you miss out on too much of the stuff that comes in between or do you make sure that you savor it all?  Actually, now that I think about it, that is a good comparison for my co-worker and I.  She is in such a hurry for the end result that she sometimes misses some important stuff on her quest to complete the project.  Where as I try to always take my time so that I can make sure that I have everything covered as accurately as possible.

When we are hurtling through this ride called life, we are already traveling fast.  Don’t make it go any faster.  Slow down.  Smell the roses.  Celebrate the little things life has to offer (as well as all of the holidays that are meaningful for you).  Because when you reach the end, you aren’t going to wish that you did it faster, you are going to wish that you savored the time you had.

The same is true for obtaining our goals.  Don’t be in such a rush to get to the end result that you set yourself up for failure.  Plan it out.  Make sure that you take your time to do it the right way, so that your goal has a chance to be a successful one.

Life just keeps knocking me down.

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We all have those times when we feel like we get bombarded, where life just keeps knocking us down.  So far 2018 has been filled with death, illness, and injuries of people in my life more so in the first three months than the last several years combined.  The aftermath has been overwhelming.  I have been caring for loved ones and trying to climb my way out of all the things that I was putting off to be able to be there for those that needed me, so I wasn’t eating or sleeping properly as I was too worried about making sure I could fit it all in.  After I was able to get back to “normal”, I crashed.  I had been so busy taking care of everyone else, I didn’t take care of me.

After everyone was on the mend, I tried to get back to writing my book and my blog, but I was so drained that the right words would not come to me.  Every post I wrote took dark turns.  I couldn’t find the inspiration to even be able to write a page in my book.  So I decided to put everything aside and focus on me.  I had already planned on taking the summer off from school to focus on writing, but so far I have ended up focusing on me instead.  And you know what?  It is working.  I am beginning to feel like I can work writing back into my life.

Yes.  I had set goals for myself that I have not reached, but other things in life took precedence over those goals, so I simply put those goals on hold.  Sometimes that is what we have to do.  You do not have to give up your dream just because it isn’t working out the way you want it to, you just adjust your timeline or the path you take to reach your dream.  I am going on a very relaxing vacation in August.  There isn’t anything close by that will distract my family with the sparkly lights of “we have to go do that”.  There isn’t anyone going with us!  It is going to be a week of I don’t have anywhere else to be or anyone to entertain.  I can’t wait!  I am hoping to find a little time each day to be able to write and get my book back on track, but if not, I will be in pure relaxation and my mind and body could definitely still use that too.

Don’t be afraid to adjust your timeline when it becomes impractical.  Don’t be afraid to change your goals if you find out that it isn’t really taking you in the direction you need to go.  Don’t be afraid to redefine your dreams.  The things I wanted as a child are not all the same things that I want know.  We grow, our world expands, unexpected circumstances happen, and things change.  How will you react?  Do dream.  Do set goals.  Do take care of you.