Living Inside Out: Gearing Up for Holidays

It's the end of October, and just around the corner is coming YOU.KNOW.WHAT! Yes, the holidays...Halloween (which many go all out for), Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and for us two birthdays! YIKES! Who in the world managed the creation of the holiday schedule? Oh, let's just lump the major ones all in a few month time frame!

Holidays can wreak Havoc on someones ability to Live Inside Out. No other time does the Outside scream louder for our attention. Tomorrow I'll talk about expectations but today lets just chat about gearing up our minds and emotions for the next few months. I believe that if we can gear up our emotions and our minds (thoughts), we can place appropriate expectations on the months to come. As the days go on, we'll see more Pinterest Holiday Pins, more blog posts, more FB posts that can begin to make us feel less than adequate in our abilities to pull off the perfect holidays. Been there, done that. Not only that, but the weather is a bit (or a lot) gloomier so our moods may tend to be a bit more on the down side.

The key to heading off disaster early is to recognize our own mental and emotional fragility when it comes to these times. By now, as adults, we are more than aware of the things that make us tick and the things that make our "bombs" go off. We take so much time getting physically ready but rarely do we take time to prepare our hearts, minds and emotions. From year to year circumstances can change which will ultimately impact how the upcoming holidays will take place. Maybe a job change, a death in the family, additions to our families with new expectations, stress in relationships, physical limitations, the state of world economics, the list could go on. The question is, what are you going to do to make sure you do not fall apart trying to make everyone else happy?

For me, personally, it's important to remind myself that the physical, tangible things are not the core of what these holidays mean for us as a family...yes, they are fun, but that is not what I want to hold on to. I love decorating for the holidays, but this year things have been so busy and my emotions have been a little wonky so I just did not have any desire to decorate for fall. I decided that I'd rather not decorate, then feel the stress of climbing up in the attic of my pumphouse to pull down my tubs, only to take them down a month later for Christmas. I chose to choose my battles. For me, it would also be turning my thoughts towards who I am and the fact that my Papa God is not moved by anything on the external, but by my heart of love for him and His heart of love for me. Spending time contemplating my oneness with Him and love for my family and others helps me keep a proper perspective during these times. I am already aware that my own personal emotions are more sensitive than they were last year, so I need to have a plan, I need to realize and remember to breathe....often...inhale, exhale. It's all okay. It doesn't have to be what everyone else says it needs to be. It just has to be what fits our family. That's it!

What can you do to prepare your heart, mind, emotions for the upcoming months? Maybe keep a journal, maybe turn off Pinterest, maybe sit the family down or send out an email if everyone is crazy busy and share your heart (because if they don't know what you're feeling or your heart, then we can't expect them to be on board with us).

Tomorrow we'll tackle some expectations. I'll leave you with a few quotes about holidays.

• Holidays are about experiences and people, and tuning into what you feel like doing at that moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch ~Evelyn Glennie

• Holidays are all different depending on the company and time in your life. ~Dominic Monoghan

• The Holidays stress people out so much. I suggest you keep it simple and try to have as much fun as you can. ~Giada DiLaurentis

With Joy UNquenchable,