Design Your Holiday

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, or both this week can be the culmination of ultimate stress and financial frenzy and at the same time profound love and joy. As we enter the last full week of the year, design your holiday season with the save fervor you start of the New Year – tapping into your creativity, excitement and passion. Just as you set resolutions for the year, resolve to design how you will experience Christmas Day or even the seven days of Kwanzaa.

Think about your ideal day. Are you spending it with family, friends, loved ones, or spending time alone? What do you want to experience this holiday in particular? Here are few steps to designing your holiday celebration with passion and excitement:

1.    Close your eyes and imagine it’s the end of the Holiday. In your ideal vision what happened during the holiday? Who did you spend time with? What did you do? What do you want to tell others about that day? Envision all the elements, music, food, and ambiance that make the holiday special to you. Now write them all down.

2.    Prioritize your top 5 moments. Once you have an idea of the things, experiences, and people that you want to be part of your Holiday celebration, then pick your top 5 must-haves. Those moments can be to text, Skype, or visit a specific person, bake your first Holiday pie, volunteer your time or donate a toy for kids, or simply tell someone you love them – I mean actually say the words! Armed with your top 5 Holiday priorities, anything that doesn’t go as perfect as planned is OK, because you are living your most meaningful moments that make the Holiday special to you.

3.    Involve others in executing your plan. An erroneous mistake I often make is playing “Superwoman” trying to do all and be all, and THAT is where the weight of stress breaks the bridge to a happy and successful Holiday celebration. I have learned – and often find myself relearning – the lesson that asking for help is not a sign of weakness or an opportunity for others to take over your plans. It is a great way to involve people in a way that shares your heart and reminds them what makes this Holiday meaningful to you. Sharing that love is the essence of what this season is all about.

Similar to my coaching methodology, the process of dreaming, designing, and discovering who you are and your intent for this Holiday can empower you to create and fully experience one of the best Holiday’s yet! 

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