Own Your Holidays: Thanksgiving Revisited
It’s almost Thanksgiving… the only holiday of the year that’s purely focused on enjoyment, abundance and giving thanks. Yet despite the fact that multitasking and over working is at an all time high —look at what we’ve done with a day that’s based on gathering around the table we often forsake for all those meals on the run. We’ve turned the only major holiday that’s not about buying bunnies, toys, candy filled baskets or costumes into a countdown for buying stuff in preparation for the next round of winter holidays. No wonder why we’re so exhausted! My question is:
Are you owning your holidays by enjoying them the way you want, or is the marketing magic manipulating you to throw yourself into material madness like a martyr?
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday mainly because it was the one day when my dad could be home all day with us to simply relax. My parents didn’t have much money when I was growing up. My dad often worked more than one job to keep everything going. Thanksgiving was the day when all we did was hang out together until it was time to gather around the table and enjoy the meal my mom so lovingly prepared. Yes I have great memories to build my Thanksgivings upon, but in truth even if you had terrible, stressful or non existent holiday celebrations, you can still make them anything you want today. The key is to own them by making them what you desire so you can enjoy them the most.
Charlyism #11-21 Holidays are the best tests for how well you treat you —if you don't enjoy them, you need to change something about you & your approach to them.
Are you ruled by obligation instead of laying down the ground rules that work for you? Do you under think, overspend and then suffer the stress of financial strain? Do you take a day that offers you the chance to relax, regroup and recharge, and trade it for a steal at your local retailer? If anything other than your desire is driving your choice to run to the store, than the only steal in any of those deals is the valuable time you lost while focusing on a future holiday instead of the one waiting to be savored before you.
The point is whether you spend your holiday solo or with family and friends, your power in making it fabulous is always your choice. If you love the midnight shopping, have a ball. But if you’re out there in the cold because you’ve set up a precedent of buying too much stuff for too many people and desperately need to save where you can, a change would do you good. If you’re out there because the marketing gurus have convinced you that there’s more value in low priced items than putting your feet up with family and friends —beware. There are plenty of notes we can take from this recession. It’s not only offering us a chance to reassess our spending —it’s giving us all an opportunity to identify what’s driving our spending, and more importantly… what's driving our choices.
You don’t have to be one of the people who are most thankful when the holidays are over. Your choice is your greatest power. Holidays are only what we make them, and each season gives us another opportunity to savor the sweetest aspects and dump the potential drama. If you’re not enjoying the holidays, then something about you and the way you’re approaching them needs to change. Take your holidays back and make them your own. Remove the obligation and fill it with celebration in the way that serves you the best. It’s the greatest gift you can ever give those you love. Cheers to your best holiday season ever! —Charly
