31 Day Challenge to Get Through the Darkness
It’s December 1st and I couldn’t be more relieved.
I loathe November. I always have. The stark, damp, dreariness sinks into my bones and I just cannot shake it. Add this year’s political mayhem and another coronavirus surge and I’m just done in.
Why does that simple flip of the calendar page make a difference? I don’t know. It always has. There’s something about the final count down to Solstice and Christmas that feels hopeful even as the nights continue to lengthen.
This particular December 1st was marked by an all day power outage that really showed me how much I need rest — true stillness of the mind and body — not just numbing out to the latest Netflix Christmas special.
Today I had to slow down. I made breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the wood stove. I had real conversations with my 5 year old, about real things. I dozed as we listened to podcasts. I thought about how much I’ve been pushing, and how much I’ve been carrying — how much we all have– for the last TEN months.
For my day job, I recently stumbled across 31 Days of Holiday Self-Care from Phoenixhelix.com. My bosses loved it so much they converted it into calendar form(which I am sharing with you here) and issued a challenge to employees to do 10 over the next 31 days.
https://thesimplechicken.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/self-care-challenge-1.pdf
Ten simple self-care acts in one whole month, a challenge? Really?
Probably.
The holidays are a crazy time in a normal year, let alone the wonder that is 2020. We’re working in public with intense protocols or working from home with varying degrees of chaos. We’re juggling more than we ever have with fewer outlets and fewer connections to help us bear the load.
We love advent calendars in this family. There are two in the dinning room, plus we pull out a new (or at least not seen since last year) holiday book for the lad every night at bedtime. He adores it.
I am not, however, a huge fan of externally subscribed self-care. I’ve learned that the word just means too many different things to different people.
If this calendar does it for you, by all means, enjoy it, but if not, I’ll issue a different challenge to you…. Or rather, I’lll offer a gentle suggestion. We’re all challenged enough this year.
Make your own self-care advent calendar. Or just jot down a bunch of acts that mean self-care to you, chuck them in a jar, and pull one out each day or each time you just need to take a moment for yourself.
Make them simple and doable and fun. Give yourself a tiny moment of joy and peace each day leading up to the solstice, or to Christmas, or all the way to the New Year.
Marking the days with tiny moments of light may just be how we make it through the dark.