The
Not So
Holiday Spirit
The holiday season is meant to be joyful.
Well, every day is meant to be rejoiced in (Psalm 118:24), but, every day doesn’t always feel good, especially during the holidays.
The cheerful songs, the colorful lights, the beautiful decorations, the gift giving, the gatherings. All of it.
It can feel overwhelming if you’re sifting through grief.
It can feel like you’re faking it until you make it.
Grief comes with a heaviness that can’t really be explained. It’s truly only felt and it’s so easy to allow ourselves to sit in that heaviness because we feel “justified” in it.
What we’ve been through is tragic.
Loss of a loved one, a broken marriage or even divorce, longing for children, bad health report.. I mean, the list could really go on.
Holidays can be difficult when your spirit is heavy, right?
It can be difficult to push through all of the negative overwhelm and just rest in “tidings of comfort and joy”, right?
So, here’s my advice: first, seek God. The One who brings true Peace (John 14:27) and then, control the things you can that are adding to the overwhelm.
Wash just enough towels to get you through a couple of days.
Order pizza for dinner (or have cereal).
Don’t give the kids a bath before bed (just this one time, of course).
Order all your gifts online and then just do gift bags this year (even small/local businesses offer online shopping these days 😉).
Ya know what has been liberating for me these past few days? This new found knowledge/acceptance of “I’m an adult, I can run the dishwasher as many times as I want/need to”.
I don’t always have to play Tetris to try and fit as many dishes in there and then hand wash the remaining dishes because “everything has to be tidy”.
I am so guilty of rarely sitting still.
I rarely sit during the day… to just rest.
I am CONSTANTLY doing something and, if I’m being honest, it’s exhausting.
I know it seems a bit silly, but, here’s how all of this ties together… if you’re overwhelmed with your daily chores/routine, then you’re probably going to be overwhelmed emotionally because you’re too busy trying to check things off your to-do list that you’re not allowing yourself adequate time to process x, y & z.
Order takeout and the time you’d use preparing dinner, sit. Sit down in a quiet space and let yourself feel and think and process.
Don’t give the kids a bath before bedtime tonight and the time you’d spend bathing them, take a bubble bath for yourself. Light some candles, turn on some soft instrumental music, grab your favorite drink and snack (yeah, that’s right, you’re an adult, eat in the bathtub if you want to) and just relax! Use this time to decompress, reflect and process your feelings.
The point is: feelings are meant to be felt but they’re not meant to be dictators, which, they will become if you don’t learn how to let yourself feel them and process them. Don’t minimize them but rather mature in how you walk through them (Proverbs 28:26).
Once you learn how to sit with your feelings and truly let yourself feel uncomfortable in the grief and heaviness, you will slowly begin to overcome and once you overcome the enemy can no longer use that weapon against you to try and take you out (Isaiah 54:17).
So, whatever that looks like for you, do it, because, even though it doesn’t seem like it right now, there’s still time for a holly jolly Christmas. 🎄🫶🏼