“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
― H. Jackson Brown
“He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration.”
― Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“What we are waiting for is not as important as what happens to us while we are waiting. Trust the process.”
― Mandy Hale
This time of the year facilitates varying levels of emotions for people globally. Even in nations where Christmas is not celebrated as a public holiday, the end of the year generally comes with society’s unspoken expectations.
I, for one, find myself in a transitional stage of my life once again, as I learn to blend parenthood with grandparenthood. I have been in many transitional stages throughout my life, both from work and personal endeavours. My current transition is to do with my personal life which of course affects my working life.
Even though many people would like to leave their personal life at home when they are at work, it is not possible. We do live in a transparent world even though many people would prefer to think that they can put on their mask and pull up their façade when they walk out of their front door. We are the same person at work as we are at home, even though many of us think we can somehow split ourselves from time spent during the day. The art of Self-Empowerment is the art of being transparent.
Preparing ourselves for the holiday season has everything to do with the stages of our life, our awareness of ourselves, our personal and working routines and rituals. The ability to work through what is important to us defines our ability to be who we are naturally, no matter what we do and who we are with.
‘How to Prepare Yourself for this Holiday Season’ was the topic on the last Global Women’s Voice (GWV) Online Conversation where Dr. Hilda Maldonado and Regina Paula spoke about how they prepare themselves for their holidays.
In the online conversation, holiday traditions specifically Christmas traditions was discussed in depth. Participants from varying ages, family structures, experiences and cultures happily contributed with their stories. For example, Kim White from the United States is in an interesting time of her life, shared her family traditions from growing up to now being the main carer for her aging parents. Rosemary from Kenya, a single mother to a 16 year old, also shared her own unique Christmas traditions. Then there is Regina from New Zealand who has a little daughter, who listened and gathered ideas for her own traditions to start with her new family.
All of the online conversation’s participants contributed ideas to my suggestion of ‘doubling your time for personal time’. Time for me in particular is time I use in self-directing myself through meditation, journaling, walking at the beach barefoot, swimming and exercise, and exploring my hobbies other than enjoying family time.
The different stages of life really does shape the way our time can be spent when we are responsible for more than just ourselves and our own wellbeing. Understandably, when we are in the stage of life caring for small children, teenagers, elderly parents, doubling on personal time can be difficult. Remember that every intention and effort towards developing our own personal nature contributes to defining what is important to us.
Here is a list of tips and techniques that everyone can use on…
How to Be Prepared this Holiday Season
- Build your traditions for memories to be created
- Shape your adult role to be one who engages with and adds value to family and friends
- Double your self-care time
- Engage in meaningful conversations
- Check in on family and friends
- Flesh out and solidify your values
- Practice asking for what you personally need
- Give yourself time to do the best work in everything you do
- Be Mentally and Emotionally present in all situations
- Write clearly what your intentions (not your goals) are for the next year
- Plan your food in order to eat good, nutritious food
- Balance work and play in your life considering the stage of life you are in
P.S. I will be doing a 15-20 minute online live discussion for the same topic on the 26th of November, 2020.
Additionally, I will be doing a 1-hour webinar titled “Holiday Breakthroughs” on the 2nd of December, 2020 for those who want to join some of my students who are seeking more clarity moving forward into the next year.
Join me in the live virtual conversations, to have open sessions with me. Please visit the events page for more details.
Sending you love and big hugs,
Di
