How are you doing this holiday season?
I know once Halloween happens it feels like life goes into fast forward pulling us in a million different directions with so many obligations and things to consume. And we just have to pull up our bootstraps and make it through.
On thanksgiving I shared with you some things I am and am not available for this holiday season and I’ve been holding onto that. I’m not available for the frantic, pressurized, mayhem. And listen, maybe I can lean into that a little bit more because I’m not christian. Christmas doesn’t mean anything to me and Hanukkah is easy! Yet, I live in the United States so the holiday season (read: christmas) is everywhere so I’m not 100% immune to revved up pace of the season.
We all have different ways of coping with the added stress, obligations, and dynamics that come with the most wonderful time of the year. I usually lean on exercise and alcohol. Other people use edibles, food, shopping, sex, any number of things that help to numb in intensity. Because it gets intense!
There’s so much pressure to have accomplished EVERYTHING this past year. And the holidays serve as a benchmark of what’s changed since the year before. There’s pressure to show up a certain way to family or work or other social events that maybe no longer align with who you are and how you want to be in the world. So we’re caught between old agreements or rocking the boat.
This time of year is loaded and we are all doing our best to handle whatever it is life has thrown our way. Because we are all humans having a human experience and sometimes it’s hard AF. Sometimes our coping mechanisms are extra naps and saying no. Sometimes our coping mechanisms are extra cookies and extra yoga classes. Sometimes our coping mechanisms are drinking until we pass out or using other substances to alter our experience.
Whatever your vice, we are all human struggling in this human experience.
I had an incredible conversation with my friend Erin Khar about this which I’m sharing this week on the podcast. There is so much stigma and judgment around addiction when it is so often caused by emotional dysregulation. This conversation helped open my eyes to my own thoughts around addiction, my own vices (of which I have few since I’m pregnant), and how I can educate myself and my family around this very real part of our cultural landscape.
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION HERE.
And also check out Erin’s incredible Substack Ask Erin! Her advice draws on the fact that she’s made lots of mistakes so you don’t have to!
And so I ask again, how are you doing this holiday season? How are you navigating the intensity? The mayhem? The excitement? The overabundance of joy and time together?
I’ve been resting. I’ve been saying no to things that cost too much of my energy and yes to space, ease, and naps. Pregnancy makes that part a little easier, and being Jewish also helps because Hanukkah isn’t Jewish Christmas, but it’s still very against my nature to actually slow down. I always want to, but now I’m actually doing it.
I’m also about to move to a house so there’s a lot I have to do and I need to protect my energy as much as possible since these says it is absolutely finite. More to come on the move later this week. And until then, listen to the podcast and then comment below with how YOU are navigating the holiday season, how you are managing the human experience, and/or how you are protecting your energy.
As always, I’ve got your back. I’ve got your front. And I’ve got your undercarriage.
Xo, Alissa