The Season of Joy?

The holiday season is full of fear.

No, I didn’t mean to say joy.

I meant fear.

The expectation to have a joyous, picture perfect Christmas, plagues us and is frightening.
Decorated homes, beautiful trees, loads of presents wrapped in beautiful paper with hand-crafted matching gift tags tied on with holiday ribbon.

Egg nog made from scratch and home baked goodies.
Smiling children dressed in holiday garb for that exciting picture with Santa!

The obligation to attend tree lightings, holidays parties, your in-laws' home, and constantly be on the lookout for the PERFECT gift.

Fear.

What if I my holiday doesn’t look like that?

Fear

What if I’m not good enough?

Fear

What if I can’t hold it all together -- what if people see that I’m just faking it to make it?

Fear.

The wave of fear builds, you spiral into 13 other pain points, and you quickly start drowning.

Survival mode kicks in and you try to “FIX” the feeling: 
*spend too much money
*attend all the things
*take time off of work to get it all done (or don’t sleep)
*become very irritable
*end of up despising the holiday

Now, you’ve created even more problems -- fear manifests more fear.

How did this happen?
You had a feeling, a pain, a fear, and you let your mind engage in it.

These feelings are NOT YOU. Your mind likes to sucker you into these lies in order to keep your old, outdated story alive.

“Feelings are NOT facts.”

Separate YOU from your feelings. Understand that just because you feel “not good enough,” doesn’t mean anyone else is even paying attention. Everyone is too busy with their own fear to notice yours.

Give yourself some grace. You are doing an amazing job of being a human, even if you haven’t hung your Christmas lights yet!

Right now, write down how you feel. 
What, specifically makes you feel that way? What is your trigger for this pain?
Does the trigger have ANYTHING to do with baking cookies and going to one more holiday party? Or, is it something deeper? 
Some old identity you had. 
Some earlier need that was unmet. 
A pain that was never resolved.

YOU are good enough. In fact, you are ah-mazing!
Just as you are.
Take the time this season to do what feels GOOD. 
Consider YOU and YOUR needs. How does that change your holiday plan?

You’ve got this.
Love YOU More.