I’m a traveler. I can’t remember the last time I knew where I would be spending Christmas more than a few weeks in advance. Even when I thought I had it figured out, something would change and I would end up in another city, state, or even country. (more…)
We’re approaching the end of the year. As we do, we’re coming up on the one time where the whole country grinds to a halt for two weeks. Schools let out. Businesses go into a quasi-idle mode. People find or create time to relax and get away from it all.
And yet most people don’t really let go of all the junk in their heads. The stress levels stay high, the tension is still there. The only real change is in what the stress is about.
This is a great opportunity to let it all go. You’ve got several days off, or, if you do have to work, shorter-than-normal days. It’s dark and cold (for most of us), so it should be easy to stay in for a quiet night or two and just relax. (more…)
Some people take stressful situations in stride. You probably know at least one person who is rarely, if ever, tense or under pressure. Life comes at them just like it does for everyone, but they glide through it without too much effort.
Others are in a perpetual state of frenzy, trying to deflect or absorb everything that comes their way. Each day at work is crisis after crisis. Each evening at home is one giant flurry of getting things done. They don’t relax, ever. (more…)
Every year, about this time, the newspaper, TV, and internet news sources start to focus on obesity. The timing is obvious: we all know we eat too much at various meals during the holiday season. It’s nearly impossible to eat healthy from mid-November to early January: between the feasts, the parties, the leftovers, and the (sadistic?) habit of mothers everywhere to actually make all the cookies, brownies, and treats that we can stuff into our mouths, it’s amazing we don’t actually hurt ourselves regularly. (more…)
We all know the stereotypical story: newlywed couple invites the in-laws to Thanksgiving dinner, and disaster ensues as the bird won’t thaw, the potato salad spills on the floor, and Grandma’s best cherry pie recipe is destroyed by accidentally using salt instead of sugar. Or how about this one: the extended family gets together for the annual Christmas feast, but a major ice storm prevents anyone from leaving that evening, and twenty-three relatives try to get along in a house better suited to four people. Or maybe this: a two-week vacation to Hawaii has to be forgone at the last minute when a major project drops behind schedule at work two weeks before Christmas.
The holiday season is supposed to be about family and friends, about being thankful and gracious and giving and loving. Yet for far too many, it doesn’t actually work out that way, and instead is just one giant stressful event after another. We get stressed over perceived problems and forget the big picture. (more…)
Some rights reserved 2006-2009, Jeffrey Eliasen.
