Are You Trying to Put 10lbs of Poop in a 5lb Bag?

Doesn’t the holidays season feel a little like a giant struggle to put 10 pounds of poop into a 5 pound bag? I mean, our schedules are busy enough under normal circumstances. Then, all of a sudden, we expect to do the impossible and fit in a whole host of holiday preparations, activities, and events into our already booked schedules. It can be a recipe for crazy making and making a huge stinky mess.

Regardless of what holiday you celebrate and whether you do so with your family, friends, or some combination of the two, it is a busy time. How have you set yourself up to have the kind of holiday you most desire? Have you cleared space in your life for the experience to unfold or are you trying to force miracles through small spaces?

So many times I have been guilty of eliminating nothing from my schedule and then attempting to decorate, shop, wrap, bake, visit, and travel all while juggling the rest of my life. At the risk of sounding biblical, I’d have more luck getting a camel through the eye of a needle. I can still recall the year Kim & I baked over 1200 cookies and were still stirring fudge while glaring at the candy thermometer on Christmas Eve just hours before we needed to hit the road. Insanity! And, we didn’t really enjoy the experience because we treated ourselves like slaves on an assembly line — “chocolate chips…STAT!” and “hurry up with rolling those friggin cookie balls you slacker!”.

Fortunately, we’ve either gotten wiser or simply worn out and we don’t even attempt to accomplish the impossible anymore. Sure, we do a number of holiday things and have a pretty packed schedule of visiting and travel, but there is space to breathe and we don’t even hesitate to simply say no to and eliminate the activities we don’t really want to do.

How about you?

• Have you created the necessary space in your schedule to do the activites you want to do this holiday?
• Are you saying “No, thank you.” to activities and invitations that don’t bring you pleasure?
• Did you leave some “me time” just for you to relax and reflect on what you’re grateful for and what you most want from the year ahead?
• Have you eliminated the “shoulds” from your list so you’re enjoying the holiday in your way and not according to someone else’s expectations?

If you can’t say a resounding YES to all these questions, take some time this week to see how you might re-prioritize and take a new perspective on your holiday plans so you can create the holiday you most desire.