The holiday season is my favorite time of year.
I remember childhood memories of our favorite family traditions - everything from camping out watching holiday movies in the living room to baking our favorite desserts and treats in time for family gatherings or parties with friends. To me, life generally feels a little happier, a bit more joyful and magical, around this tie of year.
However, for many, the holidays can be a difficult, perhaps even painful time.
Some of you have endured the loss of a loved one, spouse, or child. Perhaps you have estranged relationships with people in your family and you're not sure how to deal with them, especially as we head into what performer Andy Williams calls, "the most wonderful time of the year."
One of the best tools my counselor has helped teach me over the years is how to deal with difficult - even unhealthy or unsafe - people.
It is a tool I think we all need in our emotional toolbox, especially if dealing with certain family members around the holiday season is messy or difficult for you.
Read more on the five helpful tips over at Blessed is She . . .
What else would you add to the list?
Today was a rainy, cold day in SE Michigan. It seemed to set the tone for the cozy setting of meeting with my spiritual director in her office.
After we prayed, she asked me to describe what the last month has been like.
My response? Full, rich, and beautiful.
The last month or two this Fall have been so busy, but in the best possible ways.
The first weekend of October, a dear friend Hope and I went up north for a writing retreat together. It like an old fashioned girls slumber party and we had the best heart chats on all the things of life: dating, marriage, babies, sex, politics, religion, and spirituality. I have known Hope professionally for awhile but we have developed a friendship over the last year or so, and she is such a gift to me.
The weekend before Halloween one of my favorite human beings Christina came to visit for the weekend. This beautiful soul is proof real, authentic friendships can be formed over Instagram. Her encouragement, laughter, sass, and friendship have been one of the best surprises of 2019.
We spent the weekend eating good food, wandering downtown Detroit, hitting up a used bookstore, dinner + dessert with my sister Annie, and equal doses of snort laughing with heart chats.
We ended the weekend with a walk in the rain in Detroit and matching avocado friendship tattoos.
I legit cried when she drove away.
I decided to open up and share on allll the "interesting" experiences of online dating and even created some funky hash tags...because why not? Thanks Patrick for the inspiration and feedback! ;)
The quality of my dates and men has shifted, and there is one very good man I am enjoying getting to spend more time with these days. Hopefully more on that in the future. ;)
My sweet nephew/godson Xavier turned two on November 1. How is he already two!? When I got out of my car to bring him his birthday present, he came running out of the house in his footie jammies yelling my name. Seriously, I can think of few things that make my heart so happy.
The second week of November we got our first snowstorm of the season. I was less than thrilled but having a snow day to babysit X-Man was a-okay in my book.
I have new speaking opportunities that have opened up and are on my schedule for 2020. I have started writing at Grotto Network as a regular contributor and will begin writing at Endow in the New Year.
I am grateful how doors continue to open for me to grow and use my creative skills.
It is crazy to think Thanksgiving is one week away and Advent starting shortly after.
I am looking forward to an RCIA team dinner tomorrow after work, cleaning my apartment, reading, and dinner with a priest friend this weekend.
God continues to show me in little ways even there are spaces of life I wish were different, joy and beauty can be found right now in my current reality
Did Fall feel like a whirlwind for you?
What is new & exciting in your life?
I was driving home from Mass one Sunday this summer.
A friend suddenly was unable to attend our plans for a concert at a local church. She had double booked herself on her calendar. While I understood, I drove home feeling a little disappointed.
My disappointment led me to thinking about other parts of my life I feel less than thrilled about at times: being single, navigating online dating (oh ladies, it is special!), or coming home to a silent apartment.
Begrudgingly, I knew what I needed to start doing to acknowledge how I was feeling in the present moment: counting my daily gratefuls.
I coined this term several years ago when my counselor gave me a homework assignment to practice for several months. Each day I had to write in a gratitude journal for 5-10 minutes all the things in my life I was grateful for, all the ways God loves and blesses me in the present moment.
Some days I sat down and wrote in the journal and other days I counted my gratefuls as I drove to work or was out running errands. After several months, my counselor asked me to report back what I had learned.
Learning to count my daily gratfeuls each day has taught me some important lessons about myself and life, regardless of whether I felt hopeful or messy about life, or a little bit of both.
READ THE REST AT BLESSED IS SHE . . .
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