What do the holidays – Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, the secular swapping of gifts – really mean to you (if anything)?
Holidays are filled with traditions we may or may not feel a kinship to. I believe a lot of the overwhelm at this time of year is because we get sucked into doing “everything,” without really thinking about what we’re doing or if we want to be doing it.
From what I’ve experienced and witnessed in others, a big root cause of depression is stuck psychic energy. This stuckness often reflects a tension we feel about pleasing others and doing what’s “right.”
The holidays are not the best time to completely renovate this area of yourself – there are just too many obligations involving other people. But I believe there is a way to shift out of this need-to-please just a bit, in a way that starts jostling loose the stuck energy of this deeper psychic layer of the holidays.
What I decided to do for myself was decide on just one thing I would do during holiday-time that felt special and meaningful to me. And I would commit to doing it, even knowing I had a million other things to do.
What did I decide to do? Make my grandma’s lebkuchen!
My grandmother was German, and Germans go totally cuckoo for baking at this time of year. My grandma was no different. She made at least half a dozen different baked goods in the days leading up to Christmas, but the one we all looked most forward to was the traditional brownie-style spice cake called lebkuchen. Wherever her children or grandchildren lived in the world, she always shipped a box to everyone, every season. Even to Hong Kong!
The taste and smell of lebkuchen makes me feel cared for, and it makes me feel part of a loving tradition that’s bigger than myself.
What would this “just for you” moment look like for you? The thing you’d love to do but feel like you can’t? Prioritize this one thing and put it on the calendar. And then make it happen!
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To read more about this and other ways you can begin to organize your time into something that feels most comfortable for you, download my FREE eBook: “The Little Holiday Rescue Guide.”