Joking aside about it being “belated”, gratitude is something I feel and reflect on all year long but especially around the winter season when I find myself warm and dry in stormy weather, under a roof I can call my own and one that sustains my life’s mission at the same time. I often feel mind-blowingly lucky considering the haphazard way I’ve found myself on a path to this point. Anyone with business acumen would have vigorously shaken their heads at many points in my journey (and still today most likely). I am truly lucky and thankful for that, all times of the year.
American Thanksgiving was early on, easily my favorite part of living in the US. My first year as a student at the chiropractic college in NY, we were given a whole day off on Wednesday to drive home for the holiday – in my case to friends’ houses. That travel day followed by a four day weekend struck me as the greatest surprise gift ever at the time. What is this holiday magic that gives us FIVE days of time off?? Canadian Thanksgiving usually coincides with Columbus Day weekend in October. It’s generally just a Monday holiday – three day weekend and that’s it. Canadians barely skip a beat that weekend and quickly get busy thinking about Hallowe’en costumes and parties next.
Here, the mania seems so much more urgent between Thanksgiving and the New Year because that time span is quite a bit shorter. I see people suffering from the added strain and expectations. There seems to be more pressured travel and disruption to our routines. There’s also less daylight. None of that bodes well for our health but just maybe, pausing those 4-5 days to “give thanks” in whatever way we do, is how we’re meant to balance the stress of the season’s frenzy.
Just in case that’s not enough, I’m purposefully easing up expectations of myself in all areas this year but especially making sure not to push exercise and instead prioritizing sleep. It’s hard not to feel guilty and torn by the things on our ever growing to-do lists or to fall into emotionally beating ourselves up for “slacking off”. But this is the time you need most of all to include on your list of tasks, things that give you joy and peace. Don’t let that just be some seasonal slogan that loses meaning for the repetition of it.
Be kind and be loving with yourself. In Chinese Medicine traditions it’s not actually until early / mid February that our energy “sap” is ready to flow again with slightly more vigor. For some of us it begins with the Winter Solstice. You’ll start to feel your energy return slowly with the daylight.
December 21st!
Let’s welcome back the light. With the light comes hope.
Research about benefits of gratitude http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/author/Robert_Emmons
Image Credits – Wikimedia Commons:
- By Bairuilong – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47232293
- By Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14383009
Pain Research – Someone’s Got To Do It.
