The Holidays - A Time to Slow Down
It’s November 29th and for the past month I have been running around like a madwoman: two weekends of teacher training (wanted to leave December weekends open for everyone’s parties THEY would be attending), purchasing merchandise for a little retail space in the studio, celebrating our first year in our space, organizing holiday and new year events and to top it off painting the entire inside of my home myself and with the help of my daughter. WTF was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking when I fell off a 4 ft step ladder into all the furniture I had put in the middle of the room. Full force flung myself into a cabinet that had the prettiest little knobs that landed into my back and I broke a rib and strained my shoulder. A trip to the ER, a few xrays later and a lot of Tylenol ...Yep time to slow down!
The holidays get most of us all wound up with being here and there, seeing all the family and friends, shopping, entertaining, parties and working hard at the years end to finish goals we started. We pack three times as much in the month of December, we eat decadent food, drink a little too much and definitely burn the candle at both ends. I usually end up in a heap on Christmas Day not wanting to move.
So how do we take a step back? Well for me this year it was handed to me. So I am trying to breath (not easy by the way if you have ever broken a rib) I am meditating every morning with the Calm app, doing both the daily 10 min meditation and a 10 min on managing pain. I tell you it takes about 7 min for your brain to shut down and stop talking so the second meditation is even more effective. Meditating absolutely is helping me to be present and patient. I fall off the wagon sometimes and ironically when I look back at my calendar I hadn’t meditated prior to my ER trip for a few weeks and even those were sporadic, not a daily practice. I am back on track and feel a lot more grounded!
Another way I have slowed down has been sticking with my Sakara plant-based food delivery since I first posted about Sakara. I didn’t realize how much time I spent grocery shopping, food prepping and cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I still cook and LOVE cooking but having Sakara deliver lunch and dinner for 3 days out of each week has been amazing! A total game-changer when I was busy and now that it hurts to move around. Two benefits I have to share that Sakara claims and I must admit was skeptical:
My skin looks incredibly hydrated all the time and my troublesome gut feels wonderful all the time!
I sometimes would forget to eat lunch being so busy but now I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and with all the food I am consuming I have lost 6 lbs. It’s crazy!
Little plug... through Dec 2 Sakara is having a 25% off their entire site, everything!! This happens only once a year and you can buy now and book your deliveries out through January, when everyone wants to jump on the clean eating bandwagon and drop the holiday sugar cravings. Their beauty food products are also on sale, again a once a year thing!
Lastly this year my family is going old school Christmas giving one gift from each person, from the heart. We will enjoy the tradition of driving to Newport and having lunch at Fashion Island, walking around and picking up that one gift for each person. I love brick and mortar, I love out door malls, the Christmas music, the decorations. Amazon you can’t take away the joy of shopping, especially if it is not thought of as a task!
I truly love being with my family and spending the time looking, walking, people watching and feeling the spirit of the holidays. When I continue to slow down sometimes my own projection allows me to see clearer the world and joy around me.
Happy holidays to you and your family!
Stacey