Confessions of a Stress-a-holic

Confessions of a Stress-a-holic - not to be confused with Confessions of a Shop-a-holic.

This time of year is a dream come true for a Shop-a-holic.  All the shop-til-you-drop til their hearts content.  They are energized and inspired by all the shopping madness.  On the converse, this crazed time of shopping is an ongoing nightmare for us Stress-a-holics! 

Back in October, when I was enjoying a beautiful fall day in all its splendid glory, I told myself I was NOT going to get stressed out this holiday season!  I am going to enjoy all it has to offer.  It is not mere coincidence that EVERY single year - right around Christmas - I come down with a severe sinus infection.  Can we say STRESS!  It's not as if life isn't already crazy enough with three kids and working full time (because it SO is!), but no, at Christmas time (in fact, the many weeks leading up to it) we are deluged with not only finding time to shop, but also fitting in school parties and concerts and decorating and sending Christmas cards.  Agh!  Just writing all of that stresses me out!  And the sad thing is that Christmas started to be overwhelming for me when I was eight months pregnant with my first pregnancy.  I was tired and exhausted and protested my husband decorating the house for Christmas (maybe it was guilt because I was just too tired to help) and little did I know that this was just the beginning.  I had no idea how busy and exhausted you are and how fast the days go when you have babies.  It was ignorance from inexperience - which is to be expected.  (That statement - 'ignorance from inexperience' - is eye opening and makes me think if everyone thought that about everyone else in the world, how much more tolerant of a world this would be.  How refreshing if there was no judging of others since we haven't walked in their shoes!)  Now don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about having children.  I know a lot of people would love to have the opportunity to have kids and they are not able to for whatever reason.  I am merely musing that once I had kids, I stressed myself out even more with the holidays.  I think that may stem from the fact that it was so magical for me as a child and I want to make it just as magical for my kids.

But if I have learned nothing in the past couple years, it is that life goes by too fast.  For some of us, it ends way too early.  We have to stop and smell the flowers.  We were at breakfast with Santa yesterday morning and I started to feel the impatience of having to wait in a very long line.  But shame on me for not enjoying the moment; for not joking around with my family and enjoying the fact that we are all in good health and all together.  And of course, when it was our turn, I absolutely loved Santa's attention to each child as well as being able to take several different pictures ourselves.  I needed to enjoy the journey and not just the destination.  What a waste of life otherwise.  (I should tattoo this mantra on me for our upcoming family vacation!!)

A friend of mine gave me the best advice for Christmas time.  And it actually came about when we were talking about Santa Claus and our kids.  And she said if there wasn't the magic of Santa Claus, she would never have the energy to do what has to be done around the holidays.  And as simple as that, my view of it went from a negative one to a positive one.  Instead of dreading it and being grumpy, I want to look forward to it and appreciate the fact that I can have the magic live on through me for others.  It was such a refreshing viewpoint, I really liked hearing it and decided right then that I was going to adopt that viewpoint!

In Hopes of Enjoying the Ride and NOT just the Destination,
Me

Motivational Moment:

Here are some quotes I came across this past week that I liked:

1.  The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.  James Oppenheim

       - This quote is the embodiment of enjoying the ride and not waiting for the destination.  I love it!

2.  Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.  Steve Jobs

There are days when we feel that we can conquer the world and days when we feel like the world is conquering us.  May more of your days be like the former rather than the latter.