“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The holiday displays were up before we even blew out the candles in the Halloween pumpkins. ‘Tis the season – and all the traditions, obligations, tasks, expectations, travel, family dynamics this entails. We all have a personal concoction of those ingredients and more that come around just at this time of year. It can be frenetic and exhausting. Or not.
You are not captive. You can design it differently:
- Define what’s essential. Essential: extremely important or absolutely necessary. Consider the immediate choices of the victims of the recent California fires. Imagine: you’ve got less than 5 minutes to gather your essentials – all the rest will be lost. What do you bring? Or try this to reshape your perspective: https://seeyourfolks.com/. Two extreme examples, but both can help us to see what’s truly important to us.
- Get clear on what you love about the season, and what you don’t. You don’t have to stop everything. Just perhaps some of those things that feel more obligatory than joyous.
- Consider alternatives. Here’s where you get to respond to the time of year, not just react. Designed vs obliged.
- Let go of some non-essentials, enjoy the space. This can be an opportunity to emerge on the other side of the holiday season not with the need for a mind and body detox, but with a sense of peace and appreciation for the finer details you chose to focus on.
Imagine not starting a new year in recovery mode. Imagine being able to remember rich details, moments you can fully remember because your mind was clear, your body relaxed, all your senses engaged. Imagine – then go create that.