PhotoCredit: As A Hatter
The options at this time of year are pretty limited. Either you go a little insane with all the moving pieces that the end of the year requires OR you drink just enough to quiet the madness. Or maybe over-eat. Or maybe zone-out binge-watching as you wrangle holiday lights, gift wrapping, menu planning and last minute shopping.
Or all of the above.
It’s easy, after the year we have had, to create out-sized-anxiety-over-everything. This has always been a busy time of year and we are hurtling at it in a very depleted and fraught state. World-over we are exhausted and really don’t have the reserves we need for the mania that is the “silly-season”.
Meanwhile, I am avoiding all of my usual tune-out mechanisms which is leaving me with the “go a little insane” option. My mind has taken over. Throughout the day the computer screen that is my brain sends me not-so-useful notifications. Buy this, do that, worry about this, think about that. It’s incessant and endless and fundamentally unhelpful.
The real options are to either let this overload and overwhelm us OR see it for what it is. A bunch of silly activity that really is meaningless in the broader scheme of things. Put in other words: decide what you need to worry about and forget about the rest.This isn’t just now advice, it’s life advice.
2020 has sucked but it’s also been a great teacher. I’m working on being a great student. Working on not letting the little things become big things. Working on gratitude for all the great things I have in my life. Working on ensuring that all voices are heard and that all people are represented. Working on being a great human.
Even when our options are limited, or non-optimal, we always have a choice. When we stop seeing our capacity to choose we give in to the madness.
So take stock. How are you doing? Truly, how are you doing? Ask yourself and be honest. And also ask yourself, what could I do right now to be just a little less crazy? Just a little less...just the right amount of crazy.