Hints for Surviving the Holidays

Season’s Greetings and Welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Folks, it’s just two days away from Christmas and I’m more excited than a dog with a chew toy. The holidays can usually be a hit or miss time of the year, especially with family and friends.  Some people dread the holidays due to in-laws, parents, being alone, and other reasons. Here are some tips for the upcoming holidays.

5. Baking Makes Any Soul Happy

As I’ve mentioned before, I have depression. I know the symptoms too well and still suffer them, but I accept it as a flaw of mine that can be healed with time. You know what makes me happy though and forget my depression? Baking. Baking is as therapeutic as cleaning and is an art. Baking takes your mind off everything and helps you focus on the situation at hand: to ensure that you bake the best food the universe has to offer.

It’s your baking; you do it how you want to and it will teach you what you did right or wrong. If people don’t like what you made, it’s not your fault. You didn’t ask them to eat what you made, they just decided to eat it. You just made it because it made you happy and there’s nothing wrong with that.

4.  Treat Yo Self

Ah, yes the concept from “Parks and Recreation” that the Internet has adapted. You may be someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas or any holiday for that matter. You may be a person who doesn’t buy gifts for people. Either way, you have your reasons. However, this is the season of giving and there is no harm in giving yourself something. You’ve worked for it all year, you’ve had your eye on that one thing that you know will make you happy. So by all means, order it online, go to the store and buy it, because you deserve it.

3. You Don’t Need a Partner

One of our primal needs is intimacy, which can be thought of as love. The first and most important type of love is to love yourself. Accept everything about yourself even if your mom hates your hair or your aunt thinks you could be prettier if you lost some weight. Whenever anyone criticizes your appearance, you immediately question what they were like at your age, and disregard their negativity.  Chances are they were like you in their youthful years and will never admit it.

After loving yourself, there are many types of love: infatuation, admiration, adoration, and so many others. Then there’s true love, the type of love you often associate with a relationship. When your family questions why you have no one during the holidays you just tell them that you don’t need one. That’s it.

You don’t need a partner for the holidays. It doesn’t make anything more magical or special, if anything it just offers companionship which you can have with a friend online or in person. Even if you never want someone to stand by your side, that’s perfectly normal and all right. You are a strong person who can stand on their own two feet and love yourself in a way that no one else can. It’s a special type of love that only you can have and makes you feel fantastic.

2.  Don’t Worry About Life

Yes, you will figure out what college you want to go to, what major you want to pursue, what you want to do in life, where you want to live, and much more. It doesn’t need to be decided in the blink of an eye or as a hurried response to someone who questions your life. They’re asking anyway because they care about you and want to see you succeed in life, which is the want of parents and relatives everywhere. However, nothing can be gained by rushing through life and finding yourself working at a job that makes you miserable with a degree in something you never wanted. You decide what you want to do when you’re ready. Eventually things will work out.

1. Let No One Ruin Your Holiday

I emphasize ‘no one’ because no one: parents, exes, friends, enemies, relatives, should ruin your holiday. This is a day of celebration, a day of looking back and realizing that you made it another year, that you are strong and can go onto the next year, and a day of overall merriment.  Holidays are like your birthday: they only come once a year and since our lives are so incredibly short, it’s best to embrace them, and do whatever we please with them. If you don’t feel like having dinner with your family, but rather see a friend then do it. If you rather sit in your room all day and treat the day like any, then by all means go for it. If you want to do nothing, but drink the holiday away then have fun (just please don’t drive or turn into the Hulk when you’re completely smashed).

In short: let no one take your happiness from you, especially during the holiday season.  Parents and relatives can be ruthless and relentless with their questions, concerns, and antics, but at some point you can’t just run from them anymore. You must stand up for yourself and slay their words with your own sword of justice, crafted by your personality, desires, and emotions.  They cannot rule over you and what you want to do. At best, they can offer ideas, but it’s up to you to take them or not.