I read a post from a group last week that asked for input on how to best use the last few days of December to maximise our goals, to ramp up our achievement and gear ourselves up for success in 2017. The poster was looking for the tips we would give to support this frenzied last burst of activity.
Well I couldn’t help myself; it was a post just waiting for some Happiness Prescription input. And it wasn’t quite what she was expecting. I thought I’d share my sentiments with you.
December, especially for those of us in the northern hemisphere, takes us in winter, the father of all seasons. The season that calls for us to hibernate, rest and rejuvenate.
December is fraught with festive season mayhem, as presents are selected, menus created, visitors invited and houses festooned with tinsel. Christmas parties appear around every corner, school nativity plays magnetise us as we watch our little cherubs huddle on the stage and social calendars burst at the seam as the season of merriment drags us out into the cold.
December – where viruses and bacteria set out on their mission to attack; noses running, heads aching and throats croaking and all of this just before the Christmas madness. On top of this, we’re being encouraged to gear up for greater achievement as we see the last few days of the month float by us like a Poo Stick.
I don’t think so! Let’s turn this on it’s head and see December with different eyes.
My top tips for December is not to DO more, to ACHIEVE more and add even more stress to our already overwhelmed souls. My top tips are to STOP, BE and REST. The very opposite of what we are conditioned to do.
This is the month to be truly kind to ourselves. To slow our pace down, to reflect. Winter for us northerners, calls us to respect ourselves and allow us to flow gently like the river. There is nothing more that our tired, rung out bodies can achieve in these final few days. We are never at our optimum at this time of year. So stop pushing. Let’s give permission to rest, to let go of our insatiable need to control and tick off the To Do list.