The holidays are over, so this post is kind of useless–except for all you lucky people who have stumbled upon this post via a Google search in winter 2010. I’m here to rescue you from holiday ho-hum sadness! My mood often takes a nosedive during the holidays, and I was quite happy this year. Let’s see why I was happy and how you can be happy during the holidays too.
Ask for one thing from someone who wants to get you something and expect to get nothing. I got a delicious-smelling bar of soap from my girl Sarah, a gift card from my aunt, an IOU from my little sister, and exactly what I wanted from my parents—a lot of money to pay for my trip to Sundance. However, they insisted they were not going to write me a check for hundreds of dollars, so I just gave up hoping I would get it. Since I didn’t ask for anything, I was happy with whatever I got. Obviously, it’s a lot easier to be happy when “what you get” is lots of money, but I think I would have been just fine without it (though more in debt).
Spend Christmas helping other people. My little sister had the wonderful idea to cook food for homeless people and give it out on Christmas. I thought it was a great idea, but I did nothing to help it come to fruition (as my mom repeatedly pointed out on Christmas Day). However, that did not stop the joy and contentment from swelling in my heart during the two hours my mom, sister, and I drove around Austin giving homeless people homemade turkey soup with peanut butter cookies (and dog food for their pets!). Yes, me and my mom fought viciously the entire time about who was “homeless enough” to deserve the limited soup, but it was better than viciously fighting over a roomful of torn up wrapping paper and discarded gifts.
Don’t drink. I did drink a good amount at my cousin’s party the evening of Christmas, so I guess I didn’t even listen to my own advice. However, if you get down during the holidays, don’t drown your sorrows in spiked egg nog. Alcohol is a depressant and will only eventually make you more sad. Don’t drink—even on New Year’s Eve. Buy some sparkling cider and enjoy as much as you want of it. Not drinking during the holidays also means you can remember all the funny things everyone else did!
Declutter your house. The holidays is when our homes get the most congested—congested with gifts, wrapping paper, family members, and regrets from the year that has slipped away from us. Just because every single store is having a sale, you don’t need to go shopping and add to the clutter in your life. People who have what they need—and then just enough of the things they love—are the happiest people—not the people who have way too much of what they need, not enough of what they love, and way too much stuff they don’t need or love. Those people are called hoarders—and they’ve made a whole show about them. Clutter drags on your spirit. Create yourself a rockin’ station on Pandora and dance as you clear last year’s (or last decade’s) clutter from your life! Oh, and no I didn’t do this, but I really wish I had.
Read a delicious book. Since most of us have some vacation time around the holidays, we tend to spend it slouched in front of the TV watching A Christmas Story three times in one day (oh, is that just me?). Head to the bookstore and buy yourself a book that calls out to you. You can lose yourself in the drama of someone else’s life instead of overthinking about your own. My delicious book of the moment is Shantaram.
That’s all my advice for now on how to be happy during the holidays.
CrazyGirls: What advice do you have for those of us who get blue when we see the red and green?
Related posts:
