This Christmas…
It’s here.
And with it comes the close of another year of life and the brink of a new one.
This Christmas, amid the hustle and bustle, the hurrying, the busyness,
parties, decorating, baking, shopping, the sparkle, celebrating, time with family, and friends, I took a few minutes to reflect.
And I wrote my own Grown Up Christmas List. Yet, this list is different because I’ve become so aware lately that as a society, as a culture, we all
are overwhelmed by excess. We need very little that money can buy.
We are overstuffed with food, alcohol, material things, and stuff, and we overscheduled and overburdened with responsibilities and obligations. We have so much, and we want more.
But, actually, we continue to ignore what we really want, and we fill ourselves and our lives with counterfeit – those things that bring us some relief or moments of gratification. They bring us some pleasure, but it’s fleeting, and then we are on to the next thing. We don’t enjoy what we have, and it’s never enough. It never fills us.
Over the last couple of months, I have started to ask myself, “Is that thing what I really want? – that sweater, that tasty treat, that new house, that level of income – is it really worth what it does to me? Is it really going to create the life I want? To buy me happiness?”
I’ve taken a look at my schedule, and asked myself, “How do I really want to be spending my time and energy? Why am I doing what I’m doing? Because it’s what I’m supposed to do or what I have to do or I’m afraid not to? What is it I really want?”
So, I took some time to get still and quiet, and listen to my heart. Here are just a few of the things on my grown up Christmas list this year.
- Simplicity
More money and more work are just more burden and responsibility – and more problems. I no longer want the complicated chaos. I crave the simplicity, the space, and I am finding joy and peace in the simple, little things. I am being more present and taking time to enjoy what I do have instead of wanting more.
- Freedom for how I spend my time, energy, and resources
I want more time and energy for the things that are important to me, and more financial freedom offers me more time and energy to do what I want to do.
- Deeper relationships
I want to share more of me, share with others. I want more enjoyment, more laughing and playing, doing life with people I enjoy, listening, being present, and loving and being loved.
- More contentment and fulfillment
Better comes from not more but in deepening our experience of what’s already there. The experience we crave for fulfillment in life cannot be found in the chase for fulfillment or the chase for anything. It is found in embracing what we have, breathing in the love and joy that is around us at all times, and choosing gratitude for all that we have.
- An end to the quiet regret
No more of each day promising to get done with work earlier, exercise more, take more time off, have more time for loved ones, be more present, enjoy life more, and each day failing to make headway towards those commitments. No longer will I promise myself or my loved ones, “If I can just get through this deadline or this week or after this is over or when I get to this point, I will be more available and have more to offer.” I’m done with the chronic frustration over unfulfilled promises to myself.
This Christmas, I am gifting myself with more of what I really want – more life, more enjoyment, more peace, more connection – even if it means less success, less money, or less stuff.
What about you?
What do you really want?
Is your life less than wholly satisfying?
What do you want more of? Less of?
Take a few minutes to listen to your heart, and honor it this Christmas. Write your Grown Up Christmas List, and commit to yourself that you will make the changes that are necessary to bring it to fruition. It can and will happen for you when you decide you want it.
I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Here’s to Making it the Best One Yet!