With the holiday season in full swing, you’re probably running around looking for the perfect gifts and decorating your house until you don’t know where the holidays end and you begin. Embracing the season head-on is great, but it can also be incredibly stressful. Sometimes letting go a little bit, whether that means loosening the grip on your shopping list or forgetting to put Christmas lights on the roof, can make all the difference in having the best holidays possible.
Be Merry
This does not mean to force happiness. Instead, focus on your favorite parts of the holidays rather than the ones that make you want to pull your hair out. If you love baking reindeer-shaped cookies and surrounding yourself with twinkling lights but you dread having to head to the mall to get gifts, put more energy into the cookies and lights! You’ll still get your shopping done, but it will not ruin the entire holiday for you.
Give More Gift Less
While it might seem like the most important thing is making a list, checking it twice, and rushing to the mall to hope the sales will be nice, you might find that the holidays are better when you put more effort into giving rather than gifting. Instead of buying your best friend a dozen different gifts, why not buy them one or two and then spend time together doing your favorite things? Or, instead of buying all the things people are asking for, show them how much you love them by giving them something unique or planning something to do together. The holidays are supposed to celebrate togetherness. It can be hard to celebrate that when you put all of your energy into shopping.
Forget Perfection
You could turn your house into a winter wonderland so amazing that Pinterest would ask you for tips and Santa would get lost there trying to find the North Pole. But, it might be better to focus less on creating the perfect image of the holidays as everyone else sees it and just create what is perfect to you. Sure, your neighbors might have a winter theme park in their yard, but inflatables and thousands of Christmas lights won’t make your holiday any better. Your perfect holiday season might not match someone else’s and that is ok! Do what makes you happy.
Dance
It is hard to think of many things more worth celebrating than dance! No matter how you celebrate your holidays or who you celebrate them with, take time to dance. Express yourself! Put down the shopping list and the lights and put on your favorite song. Doing a little dance is the best way to refresh yourself and start over.
