Find Your Christmas Joy ReturningSeveral years ago, I was crying at the beginning of December because it was time to write my Christmas newsletter, and I couldn't find it in me to do it. Try as I might, I couldn't get into it. I was already feeling the Christmas Blues start to wash over me. That just made it ten times worse. Have you felt you've been "failing" at Christmas?I'd sent out my letter the week after Christmas the year before. I didn't want to do that again. I felt like I was "failing at Christmas." Maybe you've felt you've been failing at Christmas too! When I feel that sense of failure or inadequacy hit me, I turn to self-reflection. What the heck is going on Kathy? This is how I deal with the "ugh" feelingsI did what I always do when I'm struggling and can't find a way out. I journaled about it. Not just once but for several days. After deep soul searching, I finally gave myself permission to stop writing a Christmas letter. What a relief! I found freedom baby!That decision took a huge weight off of my shoulders! Following that, I made a few other decisions:
Decluttering my Christmas took away my Christmas blues!Since that first decision and subsequent others, I've found that Christmas feels less heavy, in fact, maybe not heavy at all...perhaps even joyous! I don't know if you can read between the lines or perhaps are seeing some parallels in your life, but more than finding "the meaning of Christmas," I found my values. I realized I was wrong about my top valueI used to think family was my top value. It's not.
So what has? Values are not just words. They have meaningLet me back up a minute and tell you about values. We often think of values as words.
An example of how you might define your valuesLet's look at security for a minute:
Can you explain what your values mean to you?
Back to my story of understanding my values so I could enjoy ChristmasMy top value: As I've explored my values over the last few years, I've realized that my top value is not family, as I indicated earlier, although I was sure it was! Instead, my top value is excellence.
Here's the thing, when I was trying to "do it all" I was excelling at nothing!
How you can use this to help you rekindle your love of ChristmasAs you finish this year off and begin next year, I encourage you to do the work of exploring your values. Not 3 words on a paper, but paragraphs and bullet points and lists. This exploration needs to include feelings and body sensations. When do you know that you are out of alignment with your values and what actions or inactions will bring you back? When you do this work, you'll spend more of your life living from your values and feeling the inner peace and joy from knowing you honour what is truly important to you! A course to help deepen your understanding of your values at work and in lifeVerifying your values is foundational work for leadership and more importantly, to lead yourself first.
If you want help doing the work of defining your values, try the Values Verification course which is part of my membership site, The Training Library. When you join The Training Library, you will get the leadership training you need when you need it.
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