Holidays During Your Healing

With every new holiday season, I swear, my heart gets a little smaller. The kids get a little less grateful as they want a little bit more than last time… despite any misbehaving. The shopping gets a little more daunting, I wait a little longer each year to do the shopping (December 23^rd this year, to be exact), THINGS get a little more expensive, my patience is getting thinner, and my mental health is taking just a few more kicks to the face. I have a few wellness tips that I would like to share with you that work well for me. I know that they can help someone that is reading this. I don’t know about you, but I am over it! I just want to decorate, eat good food, dress cute, watch movies, and be happy. But it is not always like that and this holiday season, I felt like I had a lot more on my plate and there were so many things going on in my personal life, that I found it hard to focus. I think there are only a few things that keep me hanging on the very thin thread that I’m on. The only thing that I kept being consistent at while it appeared that everything else in my life was falling apart was trying to stay positive and grateful despite all of it!!! On days I could only see what was trying so hard to piss me off and stress me out, I tried just as hard, if not harder to find at least 3 things to be grateful for. But not only that, I LIVE for positive affirmations. Many times, when we think about healing, we think about healing from our pasts. Yes, we are constantly going to be healing from our past, but we are still going through things today that require healing from too. That’s why I titled this blog Holidays During Your Healing because the holidays are happening WHILE we are healing. So, lets focus on our past healing without forgetting about the present healing as well. This week, I have been home on vacation from work until 2024 (yay) and my kids have been home from school. I am ready to go back to work because this has by far been one of the hardest holiday vacations I have had for every reason you can imagine! I won’t bore you with the details, but I got sick on Christmas and was pretty much in bed for the rest of the week. This is the 3^rd time I’ve been sick in the past 2 months, by the way! Maybe I should’ve gotten that flu shot after all! I have been getting over it and my body is very sore! On to trying to plan something to do for New Year’s Eve, it appears as if the Universe wants me to stay home. From plans to going to New York to doing something here in Providence, Rhode Island, everything points to staying home. Note taken, thank you Universe! One thing I know, during all this madness, I have been staying grounded through the stress, even when I want to scream!

These are 3 things that have helped me stay grounded throughout this holiday season:

·      Morning Affirmations: Each day, before I get out of bed, before I check social media, before I start my other tasks for the day, I must start my day with affirmations, preferably in the morning. You can listen to apps that play affirmations, or you can record your own and play them back to yourself. I also post affirmations daily on my Instagram. I never realized how much affirmations helped until I was consistent with it, and they get me through every day.

·      Gratitude Journaling: I have always heard that you need to be grateful and thankful every single day, no matter what, for what you currently have and where you currently are in life. This is the only way for the Universe to continue to give you the positive things that you desire. Then more abundance will continue to flow in. On days that I am so stressed and angry and focused on the things I don’t want; I dig deep and STILL find at least 3 things to be grateful for and I write them down. If my head is cloudy and I can’t think of anything, I just might be thankful for the beautiful gold pen I’m writing with, the aesthetically pleasing iPad I’m writing on, and the ability to wake up in the morning and write! When I do this, I find out that I do not stay in that negative headspace for long.

·      Breath Work: I do 4-7-8 breath work. I recently learned about breathwork and the benefits of it over the past several months. Just 3 benefits of breathwork, that I have noticed since starting are strengthened lungs, improved mood, and improved focus. I like to do my breathwork right before I meditate and journal. I also make sure I do my breathwork as soon as I get to work and before I start working. It just sets the tone for me.

I plan on going in depth on each of these categories and devote full blog posts to each in the future. I wanted to get this out there in hopes to help someone. Please feel free to let me know of any questions or comments you have or if you would like to see something covered in one of my future blogs. Please, don’t forget to sign up for our Newsletter so you can get updates and blog post notifications. Also, please follow me on Instagram @infiniteallurebyj for updates, discussions about my latest blog post, and daily positive affirmations, to help get your day started on the right foot!! I hope everyone has a lovely holiday! Happy New Year, stay safe, and see you in 2024!!!       -J