Week 50. Finding peace

December is usually filled with the hustle and bustle, loud songs that might be something you wouldn’t want to listen to, yet it’s everywhere so you can’t escape it. With relatives who sometimes ask the most inconsiderate questions, that way pulling on the last bits of your patience and nerves, or maybe with an unavoidable feeling of loneliness, that gets harder to handle seeing all the happy people on the streets and commercials all over. What I’m saying is that the most festive time of the year might also be the most chaotic, draining, stressful, and painful so it’s important to get a breather, to get back to yourself, to ask how you’re feeling, and what is there to do or to be to make it better. Sometimes being grateful for the little things adds up and helps to get through it, sometimes drawing boundaries and stating your truth, sometimes taking a minute at the bathroom to breathe it out, if you can’t leave or change the situation. These are only a few ways to get to the other side of it all but it’s also important to be in the moment and enjoy the time with your loved ones, friends, the people you appreciate in your life. At the end of the day, you can choose where and how to celebrate your holidays, even if sometimes it can be misunderstood by the ones closest to you. We get to choose what happens to us and if we agree to participate in the things, places, traditions as usual, to spend our time and say our grace with the people that are around us, at times, not by our own choice. Sometimes family and our loved ones are not the people we grew up with or spent the most time with but the ones we met along the way to who we are now, and so by choosing to be with them instead of what would traditionally be accepted as “spending holidays with the family”, we would be boldly choosing what is true to us.

This week I’m inviting you to find your peace with yourself. Even if it leads you to unpopular decisions. If we were used to bending over backward for traditions, for “the perfect family” image, for keeping ourselves silent because so and so is already so old and can’t control themselves to blurt out something offensive, this year we can try to give ourselves permission to be a bit more selfish and to choose people, places and situations that suit us better than that, even if that means eating with fewer people on these special evenings. Maybe the ones you do choose to have close to you bring much more joy into your life than the crowd of people you don’t really like to be around anyway. Or if you do prefer surrounding yourself with crowds of people, by all means, enjoy your time giggling and mingling with others in the festive whirl. This year let us all celebrate in a way that is best for us.

In the middle of getting all the presents, decorations, sparkly costumes, and festive meals in place, try to find your breath, your balance in the situation, gently and considerately take care of yourself, and choose what is best for you this time around.

Have a truthful time with yourself this week!