It might be the most wonderful time of the year, but it’s also one of the most stressful times of the year.
Whether it’s because of holiday blues, strained family relationships, or the stress that comes about when we try to put on the best holiday yet, it makes sense that holiday burnout is so prevalent.
I’ll be honest. Sometimes I feel like a broken record saying things like, “it’s okay to slow down,” “you aren’t what you do,” and “it’s the little things that matter.”
The truth is, I’ve been telling myself those things a lot lately.
I don’t know what it was about 2022 but it feels like everything was urgent, everything had to happen yesterday, and everything needed to be bigger and better.
Maybe it was our subconscious (or conscious) way of trying to make up for what was lost the past few years, or maybe it was because momentum just naturally builds over time.
But today at lunch with my husband, I couldn’t help but hear a little voice in my head saying, “Stop! You have to stop! You’re going to crash!” Not crash in the sense that there’s going to be a collision, but crash as in “you’re going to burnout!”
Rodger Dean Duncan puts it this way:
“It might be said that burnout is nature’s way of telling you you’ve been going through the motions your soul has abandoned.”
~ Rodger Dean Duncan
Beautiful, right?! I mean, no one wants to feel like they’re just going through the motions but the poetic nature of this statement begs us to pay attention.
We all want our soul and our actions to align, but sometimes we default to our thinking mind and forget that our soul has the better understanding of what we need and desire. We want connection. We want joy and ease and we want to finish the year feeling rejuvenated.
It’s time to come back to what is most important.
Time with family is a priority. But does it have to include expensive activities and running around to all the parties and events? Magical holiday moments. Yes, this is also desired! But does it have to look like maxing out our credit cards so we display mounds of expensive presents under the tree?
I’ll never forget one winter walk I took with my husband before we had kids. The bare branches above us let in patches of crisp sunlight and our dog Moki was acting like a puppy as he romped in the snow. The tips of my toes and the end of my noes were blue and the smile on my face stretched from ear to ear. Despite my chattering teeth, I never wanted the walk to end.
Choosing simple isn’t choosing less love or less importance.
If anything, it’s the opposite. We are choosing to get laser focused on the things we value most. We are saying “no more” to distractions and drilling down to the meat of living a meaningful life.
With cases of burnout on the rise, especially around the end of the year festivities, it’s time to be more thoughtful about how we want to walk through life.
What do you want the most wonderful time of the year to feel like? How do you want to spend your precious time?
Is bigger and better really what our souls are yearning for, and if the answer is yes, will we find what we’re truly looking for?
For me, the answer is no.
My soul wants rest. It wants the space necessary to reunite with my actions. It wants to be master of its own pace and it wants permission to recover gradually after an intense year. It wants quiet and calm, comfort and restoration. It wants to be allowed to just be.
I know I sound like a broken record, and everyone’s ready to get on with their life post-COVID, and maybe it’s just me, but the emotional and energetic fallout of that event continues to come at me in waves and I’m tired of fighting them, especially here at the end of the year.
So I’m going to walk slowly into 2023. I might even be late. And I’m okay with that. I’m not “in it to win it.” I’m here for the long winter walks and the snuggles with my kids. I’m here for the family sing a longs and the steaming hot bread, and I’m here for the meaning in what I do, not the pace at which I do them. It’s time to do a better job listening to my soul.
Prefer to listen? Click the play button below.
