Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, What’s up everyone?! Nothing too groundbreaking today, but as it’s the day after Christmas, I thought it would be nice to do a little recap on the holidays. We still have New Year’s Eve, but really, for the most part, the craziness of the holiday season is winding down.

If you will, pour yourself a mug of coffee or tea or maybe a glass of wine depending on when you’re reading this post, and let’s think through some things together. You don’t need to write these answers down, but it wouldn’t hurt. Sometimes putting pen to paper allows for a subtle release and acts as a tool for emotional exploration.

Overall on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your holiday?

Leading up to the holidays, would you say you felt stressed or anxious about their arrival?

Can you pinpoint why?

Were these feelings warranted? Did they serve you in some way?

How content do you feel today? How content did you feel yesterday?

Did you notice you had holiday expectations that didn’t materialize?

Did these expectations pertain to events throughout the day, gift giving, and/or the people you spent your day with?

What was one thing you anticipated happening that didn’t and you’re pleased about?

What was one thing you expected to happen that didn’t and you felt bummed about?

Think through your day, maybe hour by hour, and label each hour (from your perspective) as positive, neutral, or not positive. Were most of your day’s events neutral or positive? If not, why do you think that was? Explore what caused discontent in your day.

If you could think of your perfect, yet average day, what is included in it? A hike? A glass of wine? A good tv show? Were you able to squeeze a few perfectly average activities into your day yesterday?

Sum up how you felt last night after the day had come to a close in five to ten adjectives.

With this exercise in mind, craft your perfect hypothetical holiday for 2018. What does it include and what doesn’t it include?

In most cultures, we are so caught up in doing what everyone else does, but what if you tweaked your holiday season to reflect what is most important to you?

By exploring your day in this way, you give yourself the space to examine how your holiday felt and how you’d like it to feel. This exercise is in no way meant to make you feel braggadocious or bummed about your holiday, it’s just a simple way to notice, to be mindful, to be conscious, of the holiday traditions you are crafting for yourself. It’s also a subtle way to remind yourself, you the one who is so wrapped up in the holiday spirit, that it really is just a day. It can be magical and wonderful or you may feel down in the dumps and that’s totally okay, but I think it’s worth navigating those emotions and experiences to aim for a neutral or positive holiday the next time around. Take stock of how you felt and maybe why you felt that way in order to put together a better recipe for next year’s events. Now go have a Happy New Year or at least a neutral one 😉 Cheers to you!