The holidays are coming & with them come the typical busy holiday schedule. We will likely feel tired & overwhelmed; overworked & underslept; overfed & undernourished. All because we’re so busy.
I’m challenging myself this season to avoid being busy & instead try to be very full. Bear with me here, this isn’t just a matter of changing my language (although that act alone is very powerful), this is about radically reframing the holidays and how I choose to schedule myself.
For me, being busy means I feel too much negative & not enough positive. Too many plans and not enough free time. Too much socializing & not enough solitude. Too much small chat & not enough deep connection. For me being busy is a depleting thing.
On the other hand, being full to me is bounty and abundance. It means I am engaging in meaningful, deliberate & mindful plans that are exciting & nourishing. In a full schedule, I can plan ahead for lack of sleep, long travel times, late nights and early mornings and not resent it. Because I am looking at these things from a place of fullness, it’s always top of mind for me what I am going to get back for the effort I’m putting in. This doesn’t mean that all my full time is pleasant; some of it may be charged with heavy conversation or sad news, but all of it is meaningful. All of it pushes me to learn and connect with those I love most. In that space, my full schedule gives me a full soul.
I just got off of a very full weekend. There was very little solitude, very little time spent being “productive” at home. But I didn’t feel busy. I wasn’t rushed or harried. It wasn’t perfect but it was all worth it; it was all important to me & I tried to be mindfully engaged in all of it.
How might you be able to turn your busy-ness into fullness? What can you deliberately add to your schedule for more fullness? What can you intentionally take away to lessen that busy feeling and feel more full? Maybe it’s more socializing or maybe it’s more reading alone. Maybe it’s less phone calls & more face to face time. Maybe it’s more long walks & less sit down dinners. Whatever it is, it’s your choice & it’s all good.
Cheers to a holiday season that is full but not busy.
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