Holiday Game Plan

​            I have struggled with the holiday season for years. I know this year is going to be even more difficult since it is the first one without Tom. The hospice chaplain suggested I create a “holiday game plan” to help me get through it. I’ve been thinking the last couple of days what that plan might look like. This is what I have so far:

1. Continue walking/movement: one thing I have learned this year is that keeping myself moving helps A LOT! I guess the saying “A body in motion tends to stay in motion” is true. Even on the mornings where I have struggled to get out of bed and get myself going, once I walk, I usually feel a lot better.
2. Write: last year I had started writing again and it helped me a lot in coping with the holidays. Writing, whether it’s in my blog, poems, etc. helps me process my feelings. After thinking about it, I am going to write in my “Dear Tom” notes about how I am feeling and what I am doing during the holiday season. My hope is that it will help me feel a little bit like he’s here.
3. Work on my 2021 Happiness Project Resolution list. Doing the Happiness Project this year where I set goals each month and marked each day whether I did them or not really helped me to accomplish an amazing amount of stuff this year. Structuring the blog as my accountability by posting (the good, the bad, and the ugly lol) helped keep the obliger in me on track. (According the Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tendency Framework; obligers will do and do for other people, but have a hard time maintaining commitments to themselves. I know this has been true for me).
4. Work on my 21 for 21 list: this year I created a 20 for 20 list of 20 items I wanted to do this year. I think writing a list of what I want to do in 2021 will be helpful.
5. Read: reading is one of the things I enjoy doing more than almost anything else. When I am feeling down, I tend to not read as much. So in December, I am going to schedule time for reading every day.
6. Choose healthy foods: continue my goal of fruits and vegetables and making mostly healthy food choices.

I will continue thinking about this plan and try to come up with more concrete steps I can take to keep myself from falling into a pit of despair during the holiday season