Reimagining the Holiday Season

The Season of More

"Simplify to amplify." Wise words I heard recently from thought leader Marie Forleo. I recently listened to Marie's podcast where I learned that the human brain is inherently wired to want "more." This becomes apparent during the holidays. "The most wonderful time of the year" has become equated with excess: more food, more drink, more gifts, more decorations, more gatherings - the list goes on.  It's the season of "more." Do you often find that at the end of the holidays you need a holiday from your holidays?

One of the definitions of "holy" is "to set something apart and to dedicate it to spirit. This year I am determined to put the "holy" back into my holi-days. It's been a challenging year for my family. We've been doing hard things, and we all need some time for rest and restoration. So we decided to give ourselves a permission slip this season to simplify. To put quality over quantity. We've asked ourselves what we can remove this holiday season to allow ourselves some time and space to restore our spirits. How do we keep the most important thing, the most important thing?

The Lego Problem

My inspiration came in the form of "the lego problem" I learned about in Marie's podcast. Her interviewee told the story of a college engineering professor who was building a lego bridge with his three-year-old son. The bridge was tilted. The professor turned around to gather more legos to add to the bridge to solve the problem. In the time he did that, his three-year-old son fixed the tilted bridge by removing some legos. The engineer realized that he had just been out-engineered by a three-year-old! Intrigued by this, he devised eight "lego problems" that he left on tables throughout the engineering department with instructions for the engineering students to solve the problem. In every case, the best and easiest solution was to actually use less legos, but in every case, the students solved the problem by adding more - even though they had been told they could use less. Our brains just aren't wired that way. Technology (like social media) has learned how to exploit this tendency toward more. But if you want to change a behavior, the first step is to become aware of it. So now that you know that your brain is wired for "more," how can you better navigate this season of "more?" How can you reimagine your holidays so you enter the new year feeling rejuvenated instead of depleted?

Reimagine Your Holidays

Take some time to consider what really matters to you. Are there some activities you do out of a sense of obligation that don't really bring you joy? Are there some traditions that could be reimagined in a way that serves your family better? If you are someone who tends to take on the lion's share of planning and responsibilities, could you delegate some of them or talk with your loved ones and decide as a family which ones are the most important? Perhaps it's time to step away from a tradition. Sometimes making even a small change can allow a wonderful new tradition to take root. I encourage you to do this. Get creative. Dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter, is actually created from the anticipation of a pleasant experience more than the experience itself. So, if you reimagine a holiday season that you can actually look forward to with more enjoyment and less stress, you are giving yourself a dopamine boost!

When we simplify, we amplify. Remember the solution to the lego bridge. Perhaps removing a few "legos" from this holiday season will amplify your enjoyment so that you can enter the new year with a restored spirit. Do what feeds your soul. In the natural cycle of things, winter is a time for hibernation and dormancy, so if your reimagined holiday involves a lot of quiet and rest, then you are in harmony with nature. Not a bad place to be. I wish you and yours a truly blessed and wonderful holiday season - whatever that looks like for you. Whatever truly feeds your soul. See you on the other side of the "bridge" in 2024!