With the Holiday Season right on our heels, a lot of us are adding extreme worry to the stress. Whether is be struggling to provide our families with gifts this year to uncertainty about our relationships, we all have problems that tend to take up more of our day than than anything else. But I, for one, want to really soak up all I can from this Holiday Season. I want to say Merry Christmas and mean it. I want to imprint my children’s smiles on my memory and laugh with abandon when I can. And when the New Year Comes, I want to say Resolutions Be Damned! So I have come up with A Trick of Appreciation that will let me put my worries aside for a few weeks and focus on the positives!
Whatever problems you have, they are major to you right now. Trust me, I understand that. But many of them can be put on a back burner for a few weeks while we all take some time to just celebrate life.
SO, grab a piece of paper, an envelope and a pen and let’s put them aside!
Write a problem in your life down on the piece of paper. Fold it up and put it in the envelope. Seal the envelope well. Then write three things that are going well in your life on the outside of the envelope. Put the sealed envelope on the tree so you can see it every day! Put it out of your mind as best you can. Relax, enjoy the holiday.
On New Year’s Day, when you open it, I bet the problem will be gone or have changed shape but the three things going right still will be. Maybe they will even be added to!
Can’t afford gifts? Don’t buy them – think them. Get creative and make gifts, repurpose gifts or just accept that you can’t do it all this year. Last year, I had $100 to spend on Christmas for my kids. $100 for 3 children. It was a short and sweet Christmas because they had to go back to their dads but it will be a memorable Christmas because they were here. And my kids talk about the day, not the presents anyway!
There are so so many issues we all have to deal with on a daily basis. Frustrating, irritating, life altering problems. Some very serious, some not so bad in the long run. But we have way MORE to appreciate if we really think about it. So take these last two weeks of the year and celebrate those. I bet the good vibes will make the problems seem just a little smaller!
Merry Christmas and a Very Very Appreciative New Year!
Hi Lori,
Living in India during the past 3 months I learned the true meaning of expressing gratitude. Many here are destitute, living by raw sewage, starving, persisting through hell. We are rich, rich in the West, and heck, people with $5000 in their savings account are millionaires compared to people who beg for pennies each day.
Awesome idea and post!
Exactly!!! Though I will not underplay peoples problems, we need to appreciate more than we do. Hopefully people will love this – thank you and I appreciate the comment!!