Christmas Post
Breaking News: Christmas is only a few days away… and… People are more likely to leave you disappointed and let down than uplifted and satisfied… Wait, you weren’t aware of that last one? I’m sorry to break the news to you, if you haven’t already heard. I’ll allow you a moment to recover from your shock and horror. Don’t worry; I have good news as well – How you react to the disappointments is COMPLETELY up to you. Can you believe it?
Lately, there have been more and more examples of disappointment and hurt as we watch the news, read the papers, and simply look around at the people who are without, this holiday season. Some are without their husband or wife for the first time, some are without a parent or sibling; others without a job, or even a home. Feelings of failure lie all around us; it’s just that more often than not, we choose to overlook those less fortunate and pretend we “didn’t see them” or “hadn’t heard” of their loss.
As the season of giving approaches us, it seems we are far more concerned with what we are GETTING, instead. Everywhere you look, people are asking children: “What do you WANT for Christmas?”, “What did you ask Santa to BRING you?” instead of “What are you giving”?
I fail so many people, so many times, every day. As a perfectionist, and a bit OCD, I want everything done a certain way. Often, when people try to help or offer suggestions on how things can be done, I’m quick to point out how, the way I planned to perform the task is actually more efficient. I have extremely high expectations for myself, and often-times expect the same out of others. This is completely unfair – how can I expect the same performance out of someone who may not even be aware of what my expectations are? I may have THOUGHT, HOPED, even ASSUMED that everyone else would WANT to do things as efficiently as I do. You know what they say about those who assume…..
My point is – I am not perfect. Far from it. However, I strive to make each day better than the one before, to do more, to accomplish more, to be a better friend, wife, daughter, sister…everything; because at the end of the day, there is ALWAYS room for improvement. I am fiercely loyal, many times to a fault. I have allowed myself to be hurt over and over by people I care about, but I refuse to stop caring. I am trustworthy; if you share something with me in confidence, it will remain in my heart until the day I die. But all of these strengths don’t over-ride the weaknesses in my life; I have a very difficult time trusting (Anyone!), I generalize far too often, I often speak without thoroughly thinking through how it may affect people…I could go on, but I like having you *think* I’m pretty great! (wink)
The point is… We all have room for improvement and should never find ourselves in a place of immobility or unwillingness to see the optimistic side of situations. Case in point; while helping my mom put up our Christmas tree and decorations, we (mainly her) were struggling with finding the plugs for the pre-lit tree. You know how all those (Annoying!) strings of lights have the plugs, and one end plugs into the other end? Well, they NEVER match up properly and we (ok, I) were getting really frustrated. We couldn’t seem to get the branches to light up. One section would work, and the section above and below, wouldn’t. I started losing my patience and had to walk away for a moment. As I looked back at my sweet mother, who was NOT losing her patience (apparently I inherited my Dad’s lack of patience w/tedious jobs, instead of her abundance of the same trait) I heard her say quietly “Awww, they look so pretty!” I stopped and realized, it’s not about all the branches that DON’T light up – its about the ones that DO. Which points us to a bigger picture – when you’re busy looking at the *positives* (ie; LIGHTS/BRIGHTNESS), the *negatives* (ie; DARKNESS) doesn’t seem so bad.
This Christmas season let’s focus more on all the “lights that ARE lit up” (ie: blessings) instead of the branches that aren’t plugged in properly (ie: negatives) because if we look with the right attitude, we’ll realize that our lives are pretty bright, despite all the darkness surrounding us. Merry Christmas! Know that each and every one of you mean so much to me, and I am beyond thankful for you all. Much love, blessings and wishes for all things positive, in the new year.
