Holidays — Simplifying As We Celebrate
10 Ways to Connect to Tradition, Meaning and Each Other
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Why Simplify the Holidays?
Holidays are often a combination of travel, food, drink, contemplation, relaxation, and multi-generational family time.
Holidays offer the opportunity to gather with loved ones, to appreciate life’s moments big and small, to pause, and to reset. Holiday time can also be marked by stress, overwhelm, expense, and loneliness.
Holidays are often culturally-significant and spiritually-significant periods to reconnect with priorities and each other. Time away from work and routine offer a perfect time to simplify — a perfect time to approach family gatherings, gift-giving, spending, plans, and expectations with intention.
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There are many ways to replace holiday chaos with meaning and ease. Strategies to help us enjoy traditions, family, food, and fun include:
Say No to Hustle & Bustle: Holidays need not be constant going and doing. Holidays are also about rest and recreation. Don’t allow hyperbolic marketing or the expectations of others transform the holidays into weighty obligations.
Prioritize. Be deliberate in keeping your health, peace, and priorities in place as you plan where you’ll go, what you’ll do, and who you’ll see.
Clarify Which Traditions are most meaningful to you and to others. If you no longer care to cook all day, work together on a more-streamlined meal. Be open and flexible, while making mental and physical space for what works for you.
Focus on Ease & Fun. Friends and family will appreciate and remember low-hassle visits, laughing, playing board games, and exchanging stories most of all. Light, easy time together, if it can be had, is among the best of holiday traditions.
Practice Gratitude & Spaciousness. What do you admire or appreciate about each of your closest family members? Be specific. What do you love about them? Be curious about the people you love, and about something that’s special to them, that’s close to THEIR heart. Be present. Ask questions as you keep your eyes, ears, and heart open.
Maintain Boundaries as Needed. Be present and participatory, while continuing to care for yourself. Rest when you need rest, excuse yourself if and when it’s time, and keep your morning jog in place. Stand tall, and limit time with individuals if and when needed.
Simplify Traditions. Sit with your loved ones and say out loud which holiday traditions you love. Make time for favorite traditions, and be open to evolution. Would moving Thanksgiving by a day make the holiday better in big ways?
Simplify Gift-Giving. There are many ways to reduce expense, clutter, and the perceived-obligation to get unwanted trinkets back to the other side of the country. People often regret impulse-buys, overspending, and receiving too much at the holidays. Focus on experiences and small, very personal items and gestures. A meaningful gift can be as simple as a call to a friend that you know is alone at holiday time, or a cup of tea and a chat with an elderly neighbor.
Be measured about Invitations & Commitments: It’s wonderful to gather with friends and family. At the same time, it’s important to politely decline an invite when fatigue, interest, or the busyness of the day warrants that you should.
Cultivate a Penchant for What is Spare, Elegant, and Easy: People often bemoan the fact that they have too much. Simplicity is about systems, elegance, and ease. Author James Altucher reminds us that “the learned man aims for more but the wise man decreases and then decreases again.” Less is more because less is often preferable, easy, and elegant.
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Holidays offer a festive, hopefully happy, special time to pause and be with ourselves and others. Holidays offer a chance to remember, recharge, and to connect to our family, community, history, and culture. Holidays are also the perfect time to approach gatherings, gift-giving, and expectations with intention.
This year we can say no to overwhelm and chaos. At the same time, we can place renewed focus on meaning, on our priorities, and on our most cherished traditions by simplifying as we celebrate.