I have had a love/hate relationship with the holidays ever since I had to start adulting and became responsible for other people’s holiday magic. I’m sure you can relate! There’s just SO MUCHTO DO and too often my to-do list becomes overwhelming and detracts from the magic.
This year, I decided to do an experiment to see if I could get through the holidays while experiencing more of their magic.
I’ve been practicing mindfulness for years in an attempt to ground myself and be present, helping to mitigate stress in my everyday life. I wondered, how would utilizing mindfulness while focusing on the holidays help me to feel more of their magic and less of their stress?
Now, this isn’t a formal experiment because I have only my memory to rely on for my baseline “statistics.” I also have not identified any specific means of measurement, accounted for variables, etc… I guess what I’m saying is, Scientists, please look aside because my findings will be based on feelings – not facts.
Anyway, I’ve completed this challenge and it is time to share my findings.
But first, let’s talk about what I expected before I began
Before starting this challenge, I made a list of activities that I could engage in to celebrate the holidays. This list was pretty diverse. It included larger, more time consuming activities, such as baking cookies, going to see Christmas lights, making ornaments, or trying a new Christmas recipe. It also included a lot of smaller activities, such as making/drinking cocoa, enjoying a Christmas scented oil or candle, enjoying holiday decorations in my home, etc. I thought I’d work off of this list, choosing a different activity each day to complete and then sharing about it in my Instagram stories.
This list made me feel both excited and nervous. Excited because I had put a lot of fun sounding activities on it! Nervous because I was worried I would not be able to follow through on all of the said fun activities. There’s so much to do during the holidays…would mindfulness really make things feel easier?
How it actually went
When I had been making my list of possible activities, I had felt more excited about the thought of doing the “bigger” activities, the activities which consume a lot of time and energy but leave you with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, such as baking cookies, putting up the tree or doing a craft.
BUT, when it came time to do an activity, I found that I ended up gravitating towards the smaller, more simple activities, such as taking 5 minutes to appreciate our Christmas tree, enjoying a Christmas scented candle, or watching my kids open their advent calendars. This is probably because the smaller activities were easier to practice mindfulness while doing.
I strayed from my list several times. Also, there were several larger activities I had been very excited to do which I never even ended up doing (and I have to admit I’m not even sad about it!).
This challenge impacted my energy
These smaller activities, because they were performed mindfully, actually served as a fantastic form of self-care, helping me to recharge at the end of a long day. They gave me the rest I needed but since it was a Christmas-related activity, it helped me to feel as though I was still celebrating and getting a lot out of my holidays.
I would say that more than half of my days were spent engaging in these smaller mindfulness activities. I think this speaks to my growth and development of healthy boundaries over the years. In the past, I would push myself to accomplish as much as possible (I can sleep when I’m dead, right?). Today, I recognize and honor my energy level and set a realistic schedule for my days and evenings, which helps me to prevent burnout and enjoy a little bit more of life.
This challenge impacted my emotions
I feel my emotions were impacted by this challenge in a couple of ways.
First, my emotions felt as though they were more even. I didn’t experience as many quick tempered moments as I have in the past, and when I would have one I was able to quickly put things into perspective to move past it. (This is significant because I am currently 21 weeks pregnant…and those hormones… 🙂 ). This is most likely due to the relaxing effect of the smaller mindfulness activities which allowed me to rest and reset most days, preventing me from becoming overstimulated, overworked, or burnt out.
Second, I felt more peace, joy and gratitude, which really helped to lessen the usual anxiety I experience all year round. And this is significant because I did have things to be anxious about this holiday season. I think my mind was simply focused on other, more positive things, which prevented my anxiety triggers from becoming all consuming.
This challenge impacted my family
I’ve noted in much of my content that the way we cope with stress and care for ourselves has a ripple effect on those around us. For example, our bad mood can spread throughout our household. Afterall, have you ever been able to be cheery around someone who is in a bad mood? No, because, even though we know logically that we don’t have to let other’s emotions affect us, subconsciously we feel it’s rude to be cheery around someone who is upset. Therefore, we match their energy so as not to irritate or offend them. Another example of how our stress has a ripple effect on those around us is when we don’t intervene appropriately after a frustration trigger. Our frustration tends to build and then next thing we know we can find ourselves making snarky comments (displacing our anger) to those we love as a way for us to release some of that negative energy.
This challenge turned out to be a fantastic means of coping with stress, anxiety, or any negative emotion that presented itself during this holiday season. Since my emotions were kept fairly even, my family got to experience the more chill, fun Erin. I had more energy and creativity to plan Elf hijinx for the kids and do more fun activities. Finally, I feel as though I truly did get to experience more magic during this holiday season.
The lesson learned? …What we chose to focus on, matters
Mindfulness is a lifestyle that I try to embrace all year round and this challenge illustrates perfectly why it is such an important coping skill.
If you are interested in learning more about mindfulness, what it is and how you can begin to practice it in your own life, here are some available resources:
First, I have written several blog posts about this topic. Be sure to check out: How mindfulness can transform every area of your life and why everyone should be practicing it.
Second, I post and create content around the topic of mindfulness, as well as other topics pertinent to healthy coping skills, parenting, and relationships. You can follow me on these platforms to keep viewing this content. Just click on the icons below to be directed to my pages:
Third, I will continue to write blog posts about this topic, as I value this practice. Sign up to receive future blog posts here:
Thank you for reading this post! I’d love to read you thoughts, so feel free to comment below 🙂.