Stress Relief for the Holidays

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of working, shopping, and sneaking in a little bit of writing. It’s busier during the holidays for me, so I haven’t been able to write as much as I like to.  

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But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about dealing with stress during the holidays. It gets busier during the Christmas season and the first thing to go is our self-care routine.

Part of my self-care routine is exercising. I run, but since I’ve developed runner’s hip, I’ve taken up the elliptical machine to give my hip a rest. But I digress, any type of exercise this time of year is an excellent stress reliever. It gets those endorphins pumping.

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Another way to relieve stress is to take a few minutes and read a book. Reading for just fifteen minutes has been proven to reduce your stress level by sixty-eight percent. I love reading especially in the winter in front of the fire. It’s a great way to shut the world off and relax.

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Hiking is another way to relieve stress. Just getting out into nature and breathing the fresh air clears the cobwebs, and it’s healthy for you too. Hiking in the woods is great because you’re moving and releasing those endorphins, but also because you’re in nature and the trees release phytoncides that we breathe in. These organic compounds boost our immune system. It just goes to show you we’re all connected with the earth, so we should be taking care of it, but that’s another blog post for another time.

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Some people take up knitting or crocheting to relieve stress. I haven’t done this, but I’ve heard it’s an excellent way to relax. I’ve taken up painting, but since I’ve been writing, I haven’t had time to paint like I want to. I need to practice and strengthen my skills there. I’ll never be an artist, but it’s fun to take a break and paint.

Another excellent way to relieve stress is yoga. How could I forget yoga? It’s a great way to stretch those muscles and relieve the stress of sitting at a desk all day. I’ve always found yoga has relaxed me, and made me more aware at the same time.

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So there, you have it. Some stress relieving activities for the holidays. What are some of the ways you relieve stress? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Be Present This Holiday Season

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing and Christmas shopping. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and this year, I’m hosting Christmas dinner for my extended family. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but I do enjoy these family events, and the shopping! I love picking out gifts for my loved ones. But enough about that.

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Today, I’d like to talk about being present this holiday season. I’ve noticed over the past year that many people take selfies when they’re out with loved ones and post them on social media. I know this is important when you’re building your brand, but we are so much more than our image on social media.

I challenge everyone to be present with your family and friends this holiday season. Make sure this season is about them and not building your brand. Take pictures for the memories and don’t worry about social media. You can always go back to building your brand after the holidays.

Really enjoy the moment whatever it may be. If you go to a Christmas parade, don’t just take a selfie and be done with it. Put the camera away and be present with your companions. We won’t get these moments back, and they’re so much more satisfying than getting hearts and likes on social media.

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This is how we get our connections back. This is how we strengthen our bonds with our families and friends. This is how we fight disconnection. We can’t afford to become more disconnected than we already are. Research has shown that increased amounts of screen time can be associated with anxiety, depression, and leads to social isolation which in turn leads to lower self-esteem.

I’m not a therapist, but aren’t these all ingredients for mental health issues? What if we increased our ability to be present and strengthen our bonds with family and friends off of social media. Maybe we’d see a decline in mass shootings and suicides.

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So, let’s make sure we’re present this holiday season and strengthen those bonds with our loved ones. Maybe start some new family traditions or hold up some old ones. My family has started a new tradition of playing cards during our time together, and while we’re playing, we reminisce and laugh about our antics growing up. It’s a great way to foster that connection we all need.

How about you? How do you strengthen your family connections? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

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The Importance of Family Traditions

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of writing, working, and throwing a bridal shower for my niece to be.

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It was a hectic week to say the least and I didn’t get much writing done, but that’s okay. It was nice to see members of my family that I haven’t seen in a long time, and it was nice to welcome my niece to be into the family.

But enough about that. Today I’d like to talk about the importance of family traditions. I was able to take a few moments, in between making sure everything ran smoothly and making sure everyone’s glass was full, where I was able to sit down with my cousins and talk about the changes between our generation and the current one.

When my cousins and I were growing up, we played outside as much as we possibly could. I remember going over to my grandparents and as soon as all of us cousins arrived, we’d go over to the empty field across the street and play kickball. I loved going over to my grandparents so I could play with my cousins. I didn’t know it then, but we were making memories and learning how to negotiate and get along with other people. Our parents took photos of us during those kickball games to put into photo albums, so we’d be able to look back and reminisce.

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I remember holidays together where we’d all sit around the table and eat turkey and stuffing. It didn’t matter if it was Thanksgiving or Christmas, we always had turkey. Both my parents came from big families, six siblings on both sides, so there were aunts and uncles galore.

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I remember lots of love and laughter.

It’s important to keep those family traditions going. We’re going to lose something if we don’t. I see it in my own family. Now, that my aunts and uncles are getting older, it’s harder for them to host the big family holidays. I know as soon as my mom gives up hosting Christmas, I’ll take care of it, but it’ll be with my siblings and their families. I’m going to miss the extended family celebrations we’ve had in the past where all my aunts and uncles get together. I’m trying to figure out a way we can still do it. It has become too much work for my mom to host them.

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Family traditions are so important. It gives us something to look forward to in the daily grind of life. It’s a way to stay connected. To tell family stories and learn about our ancestors. I’ve learned things I never knew about my grandparents and their parents just sitting around the table chatting.

With so many people staying connected via social media, I predict some of these big family get-togethers are going by the wayside. I hope not. We will lose something in the process.

I don’t want our family history to be lost to Face book posts. It’s such a great way to connect when you actually get together in person and chat face to face. I think about all the family stories that’ll be lost if we don’t get together. Maybe it’s time I wrote a story about our family and put our history on paper.  

That’s one way to keep our history alive. How about you, what family traditions do you have that you don’t want to lose? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Just saw this on Face book and thought it was appropriate for this blog post! LOL! My sick sense of humor rearing its ugly head!

Kindness Matters

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. The holidays are upon us and I’ve had a busy weekend with Christmas shopping and decorating. Later tonight, we’re putting up our tree. So, I haven’t gotten much writing done. So, it begins…tis the season where I struggle to find time to write. It happens every year and this year is no different. Hopefully, I’ll find some time to do it. I do get a little cranky when I don’t get my writing time. 😉

 

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Anyway, enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about kindness during the holiday season. I remember growing up, we would always spend Christmas Eve with my dad’s side of the family and Christmas Day with my Mom’s side of the family. I remember looking forward to those holidays with so much excitement. I loved getting together with my cousins and everyone was in such a good mood. I loved Christmas. I loved all of it, the food, the presents, and the high spirits. That’s what Christmas means to me, but it isn’t like that for everyone.

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I know many people have painful memories of Christmas. It’s a lonely time of year for them. There has been speculation that the suicide rate increases during the holiday season, but that has been debunked. In my research, I’ve found the suicide rate rises after the holiday season is over.  What this tells me is people can’t pull themselves out of that downward spiral that occurs during Christmas. So, it’s more important than ever to be kind to our co-workers and people we meet along the way. You never know what people are going through.

Kindness does matter, even if our acts seem to go unnoticed, they are not. They’re felt by the people we touch and they’re able to pass that kindness on. It’s the ripple effect, and it does exist.

I know the holidays are about family, but for many people, their family is the problem. They may have toxic relationships inside their family that they can’t change. If you know anybody like this, extend an invitation to them to spend part of the holidays with you. So, they can find a safe place to decompress if they need to from the toxicity of their own environments.

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So, please be kind to everyone you meet. You never know when you might be the person to turn someone’s day around.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I hope the holidays don’t have you frazzled. Do you have memories of someone’s kindness to you? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

A Series of Unfortunate Assumptions

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. Christmas break is finally over, and the Christmas decorations are all put away. Sob. Christmas is my favorite holiday so I’m always a little sad when all the lights and other décor are taken down. Sigh.

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The night before the first day back to school, we received a weather alert informing us a storm was coming very early the next morning. Freezing rain. We didn’t think much of it because we get alerts like this quite often and the predictions usually don’t pan out or they’re not as bad as anticipated, so we went about our evening rituals, got the kids to bed and settled down to watch one of our favorite shows.

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The next morning, we got up and had our breakfast before I took the boys to the bus stop. When we arrived, there were no other kids waiting for the bus. Now, our bus driver has a history of arriving early and leaving whether or not anyone’s waiting for her. Something numerous people have complained about. So, we NATURALLY assumed when we didn’t see the bus that she’d already left. So, I proceeded to drive to the next bus stop, I’ve had to do this numerous times in the past to make sure my boys get to school. (Not happy about that. Let me tell you!)

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No one was at that stop either. So NATURALLY, I assumed she was really early and we had missed the bus, so I proceeded to drive my boys to school.  When we arrived, there were no other cars in the parking lot except for the snow plow, plowing the lot. I thought this was odd, but my son informed me the school doesn’t open until seven. This is a new policy and I remember receiving an e-mail about it a couple of months ago. Since it was quarter to seven, I NATURALLY assumed the staff would be arriving any minute.

So, I pulled into the circle drive and proceeded to wait with my boys until the school opened. As it neared the witching hour, no lights flickered on and no cars arrived in the parking lot. I turned to the backseat and asked. “Why are there no other parents dropping off their kids this morning? What’s going on?”

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And only then did my oldest say, “I wonder if school is cancelled.”

“Check the website.” My tone was light but inside my breakfast started to curdle while my brain shouted. You mean to tell me, we didn’t have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get the boys to the bus? We didn’t have to crawl out of a warm bed and go out into the cold morning air to drop the boys off at school? I shushed my inner demon and reasoned with him.  Relax. We usually get a recorded call at five in the morning when school is cancelled.

I sincerely believed school wasn’t cancelled, but there were no cars and no lights. I started to sweat a little. When my son checked the website on his phone, it was only then we learned we had a two-hour delay.

I’m sure the snowplow driver we encountered had a hearty chuckle out of the lone car parked in front of the school, waiting for the school to open, and I’m sure he had a full belly laugh when we finally realized it wasn’t opening for another two hours and drove away. Yeah. That’s how my week started. So, you know the rest of my week has got to be good after a start like that, right?

 

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How about you? Did your week start as planned? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Parenting, it’s not for Sissies

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. Christmas is almost here. I’m excited for the holidays and I hope you are, too. It seems like each year they go by faster and faster. I want it all to slow down so I can savor it. My boys are growing up too fast, I want to rewind back to when they were smaller and still believed in Santa. Those years were definitely magical years, don’t you think?

I’m so thankful for them. I was so worried about being a good mother before they were born. I read all kinds of books because I wanted to do the best job I could. I stayed home with them instead of working. I made them my top priority and I still feel I could’ve done a better job.

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Parenting is hard because you can’t erase your mistake and try again. There are no do-overs in parenting, unfortunately. So, you do your best to get it right the first time and ask for forgiveness from your kids when you mess up. Let’s face it we’re all human and your kids know that, too. They’ll forgive you if you own up to your mistakes.

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The best we can do is to make sure they know they’re loved unconditionally. If we succeed at that one thing, we’ll have set a solid foundation for their future. When our kids are dealing with behavioral issues in school, or anxiety, or they’re withdrawing from friends and family that’s a sign they need more attention and love. Something that seems to be in short supply in our frazzled world today.

 

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It seems like we’re so busy trying to give them everything we forget they really need our time and attention the most. Something I have to remind myself of daily especially when I’m worried that I’m not giving them enough things. It’s a fine line between providing for them and being available to them. I’m sure every parent struggles with this. Especially when they’re growing and testing their independence during the teen years.

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The best we can do is keep the lines of communication open and help them navigate the choppy waters of adolescence. It’s so hard during the teen years when they need space to test their wings, but they also need to know you’re there, and you support them.

Parenting. It’s a tough job. It’s not for sissies.

 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Do you have any insight on navigating the teen years? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Merry Christmas

 

 

Merry Christmas to all of my readers and followers. I love and appreciate all of you. I’m taking this weekend to prepare for the holidays and spend time with my family and friends.

I hope all of you make wonderful memories.

I will be back next week.

Hugs. 🙂

 

Should Humans Hibernate?

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of Christmas shopping, Christmas concerts, writing, and working. It feels good to sit down and catch my breath. I love the Christmas season, but it does wear me out.

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One day while I was standing in one of the many lines waiting to check out, my mind began to wander and this question floated to the surface of my brain: Are humans supposed to hibernate?

As I slowly moved forward, the wheels in my brain started to turn. I don’t know about you but when winter hits, it’s harder for me to get up in the morning and I want to go to bed earlier at night.

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This increased need for sleep has me thinking that us humans may be fighting our natural instinct to hibernate in the winter like so many animals do. Not only animals but plants, too. Many of them become dormant in the winter and start growing again in the spring.

It makes me wonder if the world would be a better place if we all just slowed down and took a long winter’s nap. Maybe that’s the natural order of things, and we’re going against the grain. That’s why everyone’s so grumpy. It’s possible, don’t you think?

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 A winter’s nap would cure many things. For example, road rage. If we hibernate in the winter everyone would be getting enough sleep. People would be less likely to fly off the handle when they’re on the road.

It would be the cure for Seasonal Affective Disorder. This disorder is a form of depression that’s triggered by the changing seasons. Mainly winter. Maybe we’re getting depressed because we’re supposed to be sleeping during this time instead of slogging around in the slush and snow.

I wonder how it would affect our economy if we were to sleep during the long winter months. I know my first thought is it would hurt us. It makes sense if we weren’t producing we wouldn’t have any product to sell, but on closer inspection I think it would actually help us.

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Why? Because we’d have to work with our competitors. After all, every continent experiences winter at a different time. While one is sleeping the other could be going into high production mode and produce goods and services for the one continent that’s in hibernation mode.

We’d have to communicate and rely on our fellow earth dwellers. We’d have to cooperate, eliminating competition. Global cooperation. Now that’s a goal worth striving for, don’t you think?

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I know what you’re thinking, what about those countries that don’t have winter? It’s true some don’t have quite as dramatic changes in season as others, but they all experience times when days are shorter than others. So, they are affected as well, just not to the same degree as other continents. So, it could still work.

 

Hibernation. Maybe those wild woodland animals are on to something. Could it really be that simple?

 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. What do you think? Could hibernation be the answer to our global unrest? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!