Back to Keeping it Simple

The holidays stress people out so much. I suggest you keep it simple and try to have as much fun as you can.  – Giada De Laurentiis

After a much needed rest and release over the holiday season, I am so happy to be back to pondering life with all of my readers.  I will start off by saying that I love the holiday season.  I love the lights, the time with family and friends, as well as the revelry of shopping for gifts.  However, I can equally if not more so, say that I am glad it is over for another year.  As I took down all of my decorations from the season, there is always that feeling when it is all gone of feeling that it looks so plain in the house.  At the same time, I immensely appreciate the clean simplicity of my home being put back into place.  The winter holidays always present such dichotomy for me.  Somewhat of a love/hate relationship.

At my core, I really like to keep life simple. Christmas always seems to pull me out of that and feels a bit foreign to me to navigate through the season.  I enjoy buying gifts for people, but struggle with the excess of the season.  This is an area I have worked on.  I now buy one or two gifts for my niece and nephew that are things I think they will really need and love, rather than my previous 10 gifts that will be tossed aside by January.  I also prefer now to give an experience to someone, like tickets to a dinner theatre, than a sweater they may or may not wear.  However, I still found myself out on December 23rd and 24th searching for the few gifts that ended up being the sweaters that people may or may not like.  What I truly love the most about the season, is making extra time for family and friends that you don’t get to see enough throughout the rest of the year.   I began to ponder why that is.  Why dont we make that same effort throughout the entire year?  I think some of it has to do with having more time off from work, but I also think people are more willing to decide that for those two weeks, they are just going to carve out more time.   During a stressful time like holidays, at least we get some enjoyment out of social get-togethers.

Now that they are over, I am getting back to life.  I had an infusion yesterday for my MS that will hopefully help out some of my symptoms that have kicked into full gear.  I was wondering the other day why I am so tired.  Is it from the busy season?  Is it less sunlight?  Is it because I am due for my next infusion?  I end up in this “why?” game every once in awhile until I remind myself, “What difference does it make?”  The real question is what am I going to do to restore myself and regain my health?  The answer for me is always the same.  Rest. Relax. Be kind to myself.  So that is what I am going to do.  I have started a new art class this year that is less strenuous than my one from last year in terms of less assignments per month.  I am really enjoying spending time on it and love finding a group of artists online to communicate with.  I am also getting outside everyday, even if it is bitter cold.  I find the outdoors healing.  I am carving out time everyday to rest and lay down even if I don’t feel like I “need” it.  Rest and heal.

My motto for the month of January is “Keep it simple.”  That is exactly what I plan to do.  I hope you all had a joyous and enjoyable holiday season.  Don’t feel guilty about doing what you need to do to get back to feeling centered and peaceful.   The picture I posted with this entry is one I did yesterday during my infusion that is how I want to feel this month.

Much love,

Christine