It is December this week, and I see it hurtling towards me. I feel inside that tensing and bracing, getting ready for the oncoming onslaught of busy.
This happens every year.
Every year, I fight it. The busy that December brings.
And, every year, I lose.
So I am wondering what will happen this year if instead of fighting the busyness of this time I instead embrace it.
embrace: to take or clasp another person in the arms; to clasp each other as in affection, greeting; to accept willingly or eagerly; to take up a new idea, adopt; to comprise or include as an integral part; to encircle or enclose; to perceive or understand.
I am not talking about adding extra busy, or unnecessary tasks on top of our schedule. But instead willingly accepting my own reality.
How would that change the way I approach this month?
Maybe you would find me at the school gate. And instead of my usual grumble about how busy I am, you would hear me say, “it’s busy, but that’s normal at this time of year, and everything always gets done!”
Maybe it would mean I stock the freezer with quick easy meals, because I know that when things get busy, dinner gets harder.
Maybe it means that instead of sighing about all I have to do, I write lists, suck it up and just get it done.
It is an intentional way of living and accepting this season. Christmas is busy, it is busy every year. In all the time I have been alive it had never changed.
The question is why?
It is busy, because we catch up with people we love, and share some sort of meal with them.
It is busy because we have end of year celebrations, where our children proudly showcase all they have achieved this year.
It is busy because we take extra care to decorate our houses to celebrate, or buy gifts to say “I love you”.
It is busy because our work colleagues gather together to acknowledge a year well done.
It is busy for good reasons.
So maybe the key is not focusing on the busy part, but accepting that and embracing this season for what it is. Chaotic and beautiful, and connected and crazy. Full of love and joy and celebration and yummy food.
The thing about seasons is they are seasonal!
That means they pass … and then they come again … every single year!
So why not affectionately embrace this season for what it is?
And then embrace the holiday season right after for the rest it brings.
join me for the journey,
Jodie