The holidays are such a wonderful time of year. It’s a time spent with family and friends and many whom we only see once a year. It’s a time to enjoy our favorite foods including that apple pie from grandma’s kitchen. It’s also a time to stop and be thankful for our blessings and celebrate the simple joys life brings. But let’s be real, it’s also a very hard time of year. Our calendars fill up quickly. We run around like a turkey with our heads chopped off as we prepare a side dish, get screaming kids ready, and load up the car to hit the road as we travel to have turkey at our parent’s house and then drive 30 miles to our in-laws for dessert. Regardless of the hustle and bustle, it is still the most wonderful time of year.
Personally, I love Thanksgiving. It consists of my favorite two things, food and family. But as much as we all love our family, we all know that no one can push our buttons more than our family. It never fails, each year someone or something sets me off and I open my big mouth and say something I regret.
As a matter of fact, I have a way of saying the right thing just to get under my sister’s skin. I don’t know why I do this. Maybe it’s to see her reaction or maybe because it wouldn’t be the holidays without a good old sister argument.
Either way, now that I have children, I feel it’s important to put the “happy” back in the holidays and mature a little.
This year, I decided to attend a free workshop by Katie Dalebout on “Putting the ‘Happy’ Back in Happy Holidays”. Katie provided me with a few new tools for my tool belt this holiday season. She discussed some affirmations we can use to remind ourselves to keep cool and enjoy this wonderful time of year.
These are my favorite affirmations that I plan to recite to myself as I prepare for the fast approaching holidays. With these affirmations I will be ready to keep the ‘Happy’ in ‘Happy Holidays’:
- It’s impossible to please everyone.
- It’s “ok” for me to do things differently.
- I only have to handle this moment.
- My “insert name” is responsible for their own experience.
- I am always at choice to how I respond to a situation.
- It’s OK if things don’t go as planned.
- I don’t have to take the behaviors of others seriously.
- In my defenselessness my safety lies.
I wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. It is certainty the most wonderful time of year.
-Danielle
