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How To Survive The Holidays

December 20, 2015 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

[This first appeared on December 19, 2010, and I thought you’d appreciate it this week, too]

Christmas-tree-cropped

 

I wonder if you’re heading into the coming “magical” Christmas week with slightly more than a teensy bit of anxiety?  So much to do, so little time.  A lot of moving parts, and moving people.  Gifts to get, food to prepare, people to be polite to (it’s that last part that’s the real challenge, huh?).

As Ricky Ricardo might say, “Ai, yi, yi, yi, yi”.

If you’re beginning to feel like all you have to do is endure the next week, take a deep breath.  This 4-Step Holiday Survival Guide will turn things around for you.

Oh, it’s possible.  Yes, I know your track record.  I heard about the year with drunk Uncle Ralph, well… ralphing.  I recall the Christmas of Misplaced Nuts and Bolts.  And, of course, the never to be forgotten Year of the Stomach Flu.

Four things.  That’s all you have to remember to not only get through this week, but to really enjoy it.

1. Have no expectations. This doesn’t have to be a Christmas to remember (great song, but sorry, Amy Grant).  The more you push to make it “magical” the less likely it is going to be magical.  You might have an expectation that the True Christmas Experience means handsome mother and father in matching Christmas sweaters sipping a hot toddy before the fire while their well-behaved children play quietly and reverently with their well-appreciated new toys.  Honey, unless you live in Stepford, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Everyone has wild cards in their families. A puppy. Or toddlers. Or teens. Or Uncle Ralph. I’m just sayin’.

If you’re single, or newly divorced, or newly partnered, or newly widowed, holding this unattainable expectation of the fabled True Christmas Experience in your heart and mind will only bring you suffering.  Drop it. Love what you’ve got. Oh, of course, recognize the learning in the yearning and work toward getting some of that – connection, belonging, love, perhaps – into your life another way.  Maybe by volunteering at the food bank or mentoring a struggling reader.  Remember: You can create what you want.

2. Be present. I mean:  when you’re with people, look them in the eye.  Participate in conversations.  Help with the dishes. When you’re checking your office email, or mentally checking off your to-do list, you’re not really “here”. You’re “there”.  When you find yourself with alone time during the holidays, be equally present. With yourself.  Feel how you feel.  Pay attention to the book you’re reading.  Really taste your food.  If you’re present to yourself, you’ll be a fuller person, and, voila!, much happier.

3. Find the fun. Let’s just say it out loud – the holidays are hilarious. You are making the stuff of family legends, folks. To tell you the truth, memories of the unintended humor inherent in Christmas gatherings can keep me going through the dark, cold days of February, like when Andrew ate potpourri, thinking it was a snack (priceless).  Or, like the time my friend Karen and her family woke to the sound of “Crash (tinkle, tinkle, tinkle)” to find the Christmas tree had toppled, the ornaments had all broken and sappy tree water had run all over the gifts (OK, they laugh about it now). Oh, and remember that spontaneity can be an instant fun creator.  Have a snowball fight.  Or a margarita party.  Dance.  Do the Wii with great-grandma (I bet the old girl could nail Beatles Rock Band).

4. Give generously, not reciprocally. Yes, this is the lesson Scrooge finally learned, and we all know it because we saw the Bill Murray movie. But times are still tough for a lot of people, and what matters most is that you be the kind of person you want to be this Christmas. Want to send something to your nieces and nephews? Go ahead, do it – even if their family can’t reciprocate.  And you don’t have to give Things – you can give time.  Trust me on this one, even teenagers appreciate it when someone makes time to listen to them.  Give because you want to be a giving person.

Oh, and don’t forget to give something to yourself this year.  I mean it – find a little something that will buoy your spirits, and give you joy.  Wrap it up and put it under the tree.  Or give it to yourself in a quiet moment of reflection.  It can be as low-cost as the gift of a nap.  Or as expensive as a new car.  Choose what feels right. Because taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of others.

When you hold Christmas in a clenched fist of direction and control, or focus on the keeping and settling of scores, it’s a lose-lose-lose situation you’re setting up. And you’ll have a lousy week.  So, lighten up.  Relax.  Enjoy.  And sing along as great-grandma belts out “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.”

She’s gonna nail it.

 

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Clarity, Happier Living, Uncategorized Tagged With: Christmas, family, Holiday Survival Guide, how to make it through holidays

What Really Matters

March 3, 2013 By Michele Woodward 4 Comments

What really matters is not what kind of car you drive.

Or if you choose to walk everywhere you go.

It’s not what size you are or the density of your muscle mass.

It’s not where you live.

It’s not whether you stick to your diet and exercise daily.

It’s not your corner office, your job title or how well you play office politics.

The color of your hair, the size of your bank account, the desirable location of your second home?

None of this really matters.

What does really matter, then?

How you love.

Who you love.

The times we remember our whole lives are the times we loved deeply – even if we were sleeping on the floor with our family, lit by candles because there was no money for electricity or water, and only a little bit for food.

Those lean times are the moments which bond us.

Maybe because those are the times we are especially grateful for the little things. And the big things, too.

The big things like that we loved. That we were connected. That we took care of one another. Looked out for one another.

You and I know in our hearts that this is what really matters.

And you and I know that sometimes we need to re-center in love in order to re-center in our lives.

Watch this, and see what really matters in action. Watch this, and re-center:

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Clarity, Happier Living, Uncategorized Tagged With: brother, connection, family, love, Marines, what matters

Christmagical

December 14, 2008 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

IMG_2109

 

I have the most fabulous teenaged daughter. Sure, she turned to me recently — we were at the Gap and I was singing along with Mick Jagger, doing my best version of the White Woman’s Boogie — and asked, “Were you born embarrassing?” OK, I don’t hold that against her. She’s almost thirteen. She’s supposed to find me utterly embarrassing. It’s her job.

She’s on the cusp of a life passage — less child, more woman. As a result, she sees things from both perspectives. Both wise and wondering.

The other day as we turned a corner we spied lavish and ornate Christmas decorations. She exclaimed with the absolute delight of a child, “Mom, it’s Christmagical!”

Would that we all could look at this time of year as magical. But it’s hard, isn’t it? So much to do. Get a tree. Get it off the car, into the house and on the stand. Haul out the decorations. Well, first you have to find them among the clutter you piled over them in the last twelve months. And buy a new package of those little hooks. Decorate the tree. Get gifts. Special, meaningful, perfect gifts. Wrap said gifts. Mail gifts. Shop for food. Cook food. Bake cookies.

Don’t get me started on The Christmas Card Process. Or How To Fake Holiday Cheer To Get Through Yet Another Christmas Party.

Adult life is not very Christmagical.

This is the point where I could write about The True Meaning of Christmas, but I’ll leave that to Linus (A Charlie Brown Christmas really says it all).

No, I’m going to say this: to really experience the fullness of everything Christmagical you just have to do one thing. You have to be open to unconditional receiving.

You have to be able to turn a corner and gasp because the decorations you see are so beautiful.

You have to allow yourself to tear up when you hear Vanessa Williams sing “Go Tell It On The Mountain.”

You need to get to the place where you accept whatever’s offered you with grace, and kindness, and an acknowledgment that other people are probably doing the best they can.

You have to be willing to let this great big, loving world we live in penetrate your grown up shell, and lift your heart.

You have to remember what it was like to be almost thirteen at Christmas. Remember what it was like to straddle childhood and adulthood — and allow yourself hold on to the best of both in your life, right now.

That’s when you will receive the greatest Christmas gift possible. And, it will be truly Christmagical.

It will be, quite simply, a very merry Christmas.

 

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Happier Living Tagged With: Christmagical, Christmas, Christmas gifts, family, mothers & daughters

Enough Advice Already

November 2, 2008 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment


Aren’t you weary of all the people out there giving advice? I am.

Pundits proclaim that this candidate is up, or that one is. Polls are accurate, polls lie. He’s five points up, seven points up, thirteen points down; there’s a bounce, no-bounce. He should attack, he’s too nice; he makes sense, he doesn’t make sense. Vote for him, vote for her, vote against him, vote against her.

Aaaargh.

Then there’s our financial situation.

One guy says, “Pay only cash!” and another says, “Use your credit or you’ll lose it!”

One woman, the one with those oddly transfixing eyes (you know who I mean), says, “Make an extra mortgage payment to lower your principal” and the other female financial advisor says, “Don’t make that extra mortgage payment — put it in savings in case you lose your job.”

Honestly, I have advice fatigue.

So, I’m not going to give you advice on the economy or the campaign or building a business or even home decorating.

I’m going to remind you that life is short. You have been through difficulties before and you’ve done OK. Maybe even done very well. You’re resilient. We’re all resilient.

Do you know your own personal situation? If you’re in trouble, you’re going to figure out a way to deal with it. And if you need help, you’ll be able to find it.

I want to remind you that this, too, shall pass.

It always has.

So, love, live, enjoy. Gather around your friends, family and the things that make you stronger.

Because the truth — regardless of elections or recessions or rising waves of uncertainty — is this: If you’re doing the right thing, the right thing will always happen. I said “the right thing” — not the expedient thing, or the easy thing, or the most comfortable thing. You always know what the right thing is. Just keep doing it. And you’ll find that the right things will happen for you.

Filed Under: Happier Living, Managing Change Tagged With: advice, coping with financial stress, election, family, fatigue, life coach

When Life Meets The Fairy Tale

December 23, 2007 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

bigstock-family-christmas-x-mas-wint-53829334

At this time of the year there are so many expectations. It’s as if we’ve bought into a collective fairy tale, and it goes something like this:

It’s Christmas morning. A large, happy, healthy, attractive, educated, polite, loving family gathers in tasteful bathrobes and slippers under a tastefully decorated tree in a tastefully decorated, expansive home. Beautiful little children are appropriately excited, and the well-behaved, well-groomed dog lazes nearby. A fire crackles in the hearth.

Let’s put you in the scene, now. Your handsome, loving spouse sits with you on the couch, your head on his shoulder, his arm around you. He pulls out the most beautifully wrapped box. You open it, eyes wide. It’s perfect. You kiss passionately. Your attractive and healthy parents link arms and smile in appreciation for such a wonderful son-in-law. His equally attractive and healthy parents beam smiles in their heroic son’s direction.

And everyone lives happily ever after, having had The Perfect Christmas.

Nice story, huh? But real life often fails to match up to this fairy tale, and we feel somehow cheated, disappointed, less than, or maybe even mad.

Because real life can be messy.

Maybe this is the first Christmas you’ve had to plan, organize and shop for — because your wife will be in Baghdad this year.

Maybe this year you won’t get a gift from your spouse — because his Alzheimer’s has robbed him of the ability to think of you as anything but that nice woman who visits him every day.

Maybe this year you’ll be alone on Christmas morning, because it’s your ex-spouse’s turn to have the kids.

Maybe there won’t be a perfect present under the tree because there’s not enough money for the tree, let alone gifts.

Maybe you’ll be missing your mother, who passed away in the spring. Maybe you’re, once again, the only single person in the room on Christmas morning. Maybe you’re in the middle of chemotherapy this Christmas.

There are plenty of ways your life is different from the fairy tale, huh? No wonder so many of us are snappish, moody and melancholy.

Because our lives don’t match the fairy tale.

And that, my friends, is OK.

Because if your wife is in Baghdad this Christmas, you can still give your kids the best Christmas you know how to. And your spouse with Alzheimer’s? His gentle wonder that such a nice lady is there with him is a precious gift. And when your kids spend Christmas morning with your ex-spouse, you are telling your kids that their own relationship with their dad is important — can you be more loving than that?

In all of our real lives, there are great challenges — and great gifts. When you feel angry or depressed or unhappy that your real life doesn’t measure up to the manufactured, unreal fairy tale — take heart. Just accept your own, unique life — messy, loud, fractured, silly, disorganized, untasteful. Because it’s all yours. And it’s perfect, just the way it is.

Honestly, would you have it any other way?

So, love it because it’s yours. Love it because it’s very real. Love it because love is what Christmas is all about.

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Managing Change, WiseWork Tagged With: Christmas, difficult people, divorce, family, gifts, life coach, love, soldiers

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