Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! I have so many amazing holiday memories and most years I drag those memories out and relish them. I think about how we received every single ornament I hang. I think about when the girls were little and they were so excited that they broke more ornaments than they hung! I think about the year I put glass on my mantle and it was
beautiful, and my husband got his shirt hung on the garland and every bit of it shattered on the floor! I think about the year we were sitting at the breakfast table and our tree just fell right over! Clearly you cannot trust us with precious things, but I digress. These are fun and beautiful and I looked forward to all the holidays every year.
I now know what it is like to merely survive another year and hope that you survive the next. I know what its like to not be able to stop worrying about a family member. I know what it’s like to worry about my job, and so many other things. I know what its like to merely survive. If this is you, please know that you will come out on the other side.
If medication is what you need, it exists for a reason. I would not want anyone to use it incorrectly, but if there weren’t times when it could help, it wouldn’t be a thing. If therapy is what you need, it also exists for a reason. Both of these things go against everything I have ever been taught or learned on my own. I am an independent, get it done kind of person. When Marie Forleo said, “Everything is Figuroutable!”, I said, “Heck yeah it is!” I, however, have used both of these tools in the past few years and they have made me healthier and stronger. They helped me survive.
One thing my family and I have started doing is leaving town for Christmas. We needed a change and even though we weren’t whole individually, we always had each other. Find your people and find your place of peace! We all know who loves us and we need to spend more time with those people. If your place of peace is at the beach, go there. I know that is not realistic for everyone, but your place of peace can be in your car with 80’s music blaring, in your bathtub with a podcast going, or in your makeshift craft room or “she shed.”
This year, when we sat down to the first dinner with our grown children during the holidays, my daughter said, “I am starting to feel like myself again.” I was so happy to hear it, I cried. I felt the same way. We all have our “things,” and our family has had some serious trauma the past few years. We are starting to feel like us again. I loved us broken and barely surviving, but I really love us when we are us!
If this is you and you are merely surviving, I prayed for you over the holidays and I will continue to pray for you to become you again! You will come out on the other side. Life may not look the same, but you will be you again. Happy New Year!
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