How To Practice Self-Love During Quarantined Holidays.
Holidays are a funny time of the year. A month before the “happy times” we start seeing joyous advertisements, our stores flood with décor and food to get us ready for the festivities and those hallmark movies start making their way onto our screens. While we have grown up idealizing the holidays and believing they are made for gleeful times with family and friends, quite often it can be a different story. Throw in this crazy year of 2020 and the virus cancelling pretty much everything, and we’ve got ourselves a confusing holiday season.
Although some bask in the pleasure that family and friends bring, many have different circumstances when spending time at home. We often turn these struggles into memes about family members asking us whether or not we have met anyone or smart comebacks to families against our beliefs but in hindsight, the negativity can be extremely stressful. Year after year we can heighten our expectations in the hopes that this time will be different, however, the disappointments we can feel can produce so much pain, that each year becomes harder and harder to manage.
As a time of the year supposed to be good for us becomes damaging, how can we help manage to get through it smiling?
Practicing self-love throughout the holiday seasons is a must. Finding comfort, acceptance and love within ourselves, will halt others trying to throw off our peace. On the same note, and unfortunately, practicing self-love may also look like decreasing expectations and attachments we may have and not feeling that someone outside of ourselves needs to validate us. We all walk our own path at our own pace. The expectations that others maintain for us or we have for ourselves, should not be pressured onto us by society but should be our own realistic wants and needs from life. Take some time for yourself before you head into whatever holidays festivities you may have planned. Meditation can allow you to clear your mind and solidify your emotional well being and most importantly, set boundaries and enforce them to keep your mental state strong.
As for those of us who will be staying away from families due to virus measures, you are not alone. This is additionally a great time to practice self-love and create the perfect holiday for you. In moments like these, where we are shifted outside of our usual routine and comfort zones, we can work on and reflect on our internal growth, learn acceptance of ourselves as much as the need to with others and take the time to give ourselves all of the self-love we can endure. This year has been emotionally exhausting, draining and downright crazy. If you have made it this far, you have SO much to be proud of and any other expectations at this point should be non-existent.
Who said life should look like a Hallmark movie? Not everyone sits in an ideal family, not everyone suddenly meets a special someone and not everyone walks the same path in life. We have a chance to shift our narrative by accepting ourselves as we are and understanding that every milestone is a great one. The holiday season can be hard, so make this one special for YOU. Carry out things that you enjoy and make you happy, but also recognize if others can’t do the same. As mentioned earlier, this holiday season can be hard, it's up to us to make it one that we can cherish.