Remember who you are

The 25 days of Christmas: How to keep in touch with your best self over the holiday season

Day #1- 

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE

This is a phrase that I grew up hearing on a weekly basis, sometimes more.  Every time I would leave the house for more than just a quick trip somewhere my dad would end his good bye with this.  It meant a lot because I knew he cared, but I didn't consciously think too much about it much after I walked out the door.

Now that I'm married, out of the house and a full time stay at home wife, it's not walking out of the house that I need to hear this, it's everyday when I wake up.  Good Morning, it's Tuesday- Remember who you are Chelsie!  The holidays are an especially easy time to lose sight of who you are, what you are about and what you are up to.  Life moves on from day to day because of the activity of the season, without much effort.  It takes a lot of extra work to keep focused on your goals.  

Over the holiday season the tendency is to enter survival mode.  Just make it through, recoup in January.  That's what New Years resolutions are all about, right?  But what if instead of using the busyness of the holiday season to check out of our goals and set aside our focus, we use it to do just the opposite.  What if we really can go through the holiday season remembering to finish the year out strong.  

For me this is huge.  It doesn't take much to derail my motivation for any project at hand.  Really a small turn in the road or an unexpected bump is enough for me to say, I'll just set this aside for a little and pick it back up later.  I have a few things over the next few weeks that I am going to try hard continue to dedicate my time and attitude towards.  Remembering who I am means to remember some of the things off of my list of first things.    

• I am a child of God and my personal devotion time in the morning is of utmost importance.  With the extra late nights in our schedules because of various parties and gatherings, it is still important for me to make the decision to get out of bed and start my morning off by focusing myself and inviting the presence of God to walk with me.  This is my foundation.  This is who I am.
• I am a runner and taking a few weeks off of my training schedule is not going to help me in the spring.  I have been running for 6 weeks straight now and am starting to loose the honeymoon feeling, but I still love it so I have to work for it.
• I love to prepare good food and eat it.  This is a time of year when it is easy for me to allow myself to make anything and everything, because it's the holidays!  I need to remember that just because it is Christmas time, I do not need to have 15 dozen cookies in my house at all times.  I want to continue to focus my attention on making healthy meals when we are at home, so we can enjoy the parties knowing that we don't eat like that all the time. 
• I am a health coach.  This is the easiest for me to set aside when life gets busy.  I haven't learned to connect the pieces in my brain that reminds me that being a health coach is part of my life, not just a hobby.  I am allowed to spend time on this every day and not feel guilty about it.  There are so many people that I will come in contact with over the next few weeks, really I should be on my A game. 

In reality, this is an awesome time to create connection with what you want in life and who are.  Don't set aside the important things in your life just because life gets busy.  It will take work, but it will be well worth it when it comes to investing in your best self this holiday season.

The 25 Days of Christmas Series:

Introduction