Happy Holidays!

I love the holiday season. Every year, the twinkling lights on neighbors' homes and inside on our tree just make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg mix with peppermint and pine. I feel my mind and my body find a sense of calm and joy that just can’t be compared to any other time of the year.

After a roaring 2022, the holidays this year are a time for quiet focus for me. Wrapping myself up in a blanket to read books and magazines is high on my to-do list. Jigsaw puzzles are finding their way onto countertops and I feel more compelled than ever to spend time in mindful meditation. I need a reset before diving into 2023, and I’m beginning to wonder if this is my new normal?

Last year, after I left my 20-year corporate career to start my own business and become an entrepreneur, I spent the entire month of November “doing nothing.” It was purposeful. I wandered. I took aimless walks that found me standing at the edge of the ocean or exploring bridges and trees near our home. I put together puzzles during the afternoons and cooked extravagant dinners for my husband and me in the evenings. I came to call this “float time,” and I did genuinely feel like I was floating through life. My days were airy, light and carefree. I had nothing to do, so I did whatever my body or my heart wanted to do.

Float time eventually disappeared from my calendar throughout this past year, and I find myself craving it more and more this December. It feels like a perfect way to spend these chilly months while clients and companies are closed or slowing down. But this year, it feels more like a priority to figure out how to maintain the practice of “float time” every week, not just every December. Is it possible to maintain this feeling throughout the entire year? Can I make stress melt away by honoring this slowness in my life more often?

I think it might be my holiday gift to myself to figure this out and make it a priority for 2023. What is your holiday gift to yourself this year? I would love to hear all about it!