...which marks the beginning of that time of year when "too much" and "too many" is always the order of the day. Maybe it is eating too much pumpkin pie and stuffing or being a little too honest after imbibing a little too much wine. Yeesh. Or maybe it's more time with family and more responsibilities as the loved ones flock to your house to stay for a visit. Or maybe it is just you making even more and more trips to the grocery store in your attempts to feed a small army.
Whatever it is and wherever you are, at this time of year, most likely "more" is a given.
This is the part in a traditional Thanksgiving blog where I could talk about how I have more than I need and about how grateful I am. How lucky I am to be alive. How, really, if you are healthy and those around you are, too, then life is just plain good. No, make that great.
And believe me, all of that is true. I am grateful. I am healthy. And I realize all too well these days that I am lucky in more ways than I can even begin to expound upon here.
But that is not the main purpose of this post. The real reason I am writing today is to remind all of you who read this that in the land of too many and too much, less really is more. Doing less, I mean, and expecting less of yourself at a time of year when more is almost always what is expected of you. I am here to tell you that letting yourself off of the "holiday hook" is not only ok, but absolutely necessary.
Case in point, yesterday I went to two different grocery stores with my Aunt Lorraine. I love her. She is equal parts sweet and sassy and we get along great. We shopped for Thanksgiving dinner occurring here at my Dad's house. Soup to nuts, we got it all. We food-shopped for almost four hours, traversed most of Monmouth County as we did so, spent close to $400 and exhausted ourselves in the process. We then returned home to read up on how long it takes to cook a turkey per pound, made turnips, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and planned the rest of the menu for today.
And believe it or not my original holiday plan also entailed (after the double "supermarket showdown") driving down to Atlantic City last night. Don't ask me how I was actually going to have enough energy after a day of shopping and cooking to do this but I just imagined I somehow, magically, would. Amy and Rob and other fun people were heading down to watch Mo Green DJ at the Taj Mahal. And I was seriously considering going as I knew it would be a really fun time even though it would also mean a long drive drive down last night, being up really late and then a long drive back this morning due to all of the holiday traffic, after which I would need to help make Thanksgiving dinner. But I didn't care because I wanted to be in on the action! I wanted to see the scene! And though I knew it might be a stretch for me during as busy a time as this is, I was pretty sure I was in!
And then the decision was made for me. And it was a no-go. After a pretty normal work-out the other day, I got out of the shower and, I guess, turned a little weird and--OUCH! I ended up pulling a muscle in my back. I couldn't turn my neck at all and just walking around hurt tremendously. So I was forced to spend the day working from bed, my laptop balanced on my legs, my back a source of continual pain.
Hmmm...maybe my body was trying to tell me something? Perhaps it sensed what I was about to ask it to do--be ON for at least 24 hours straight, and to do so merrily--and it, quite literally, got its back up. Maybe I was trying to do too much or be in too many places at once: Martha Stewart/Betty Crocker by day and then attempting to be Paris Hilton (ok, maybe just Nikki Hilton in this case) at night. How often does this happen to you--despite your best intentions to keep a reasonable schedule, because it is the "most wonderful time of the year", you suddenly find yourself stretched too thin? In your attempt to do and be too much, at the greatest time of the year you end up feeling less than great.
This is not a coincidence.
People, consider me a prophet because I am here to speak the truth. Now, what I propose might sound a bit radical but in an attempt to save your holiday season from being just too much, I propose this: you become a holiday slacker. No, I am not asking you to stop participating or to do nothing at all. Quite the opposite, I am asking you to just do less. Do less but with more joy. No one is going to know if your pie is homemade or store-bought. Missing the third holiday party or skipping the second office gift exchange is not going to make or break your holiday experience. And though a cookie swap is a noble effort, if you find yourself overwhelmed as you attempt to make 24 different plates of cookies to share with 12 different families perhaps it is time to re-evaluate things. This year, as you make up your holiday list, instead of just adding your family and friends remember to also put yourself at the very top and make the gift more down-time. If you crave being more present so that this time of year is more pleasant, just say no to '"ho-ho-ho". Or maybe, just say less.
No one is going to come along to manage your holiday season. So that is why I am encouraging you to know and respect your own limits in an attempt to stay sane and healthy and happy this time of year. Be more, just try to remember yourself in the process.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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