Who do you want to BE this holiday season?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right?

As someone who loves the snow, and all things Christmas-y, the holiday season is one of the most energizing times I have all year. But it’s also, historically, been one of the most expectation-filled times as well.

I would go into December with a list of things I wanted to do. Movie nights with my family to watch some of our favourites, visits with friends, tree trimming and decorating …

It all had its place on the calendar and, at times, would detract from my ability to immerse in the things I had so wanted to do. Mind busy with what was next on the list, was I capturing it all, doing the things I wanted and needed to do in quick enough succession to get through them all?

Enough of that. No more to-do lists. This year has taught me so many lessons that I am choosing to bring into this holiday season. For one, I knew I had to take radical responsibility for my holiday experience.

As a reminder, radical responsibility is the act of taking direct, firm, and consistent accountability for our thinking, actions, and responses. It requires that we blow up victim mode, which I think many of us find ourselves in during the holidays.

“I can’t enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and a good book right now because I have too much wrapping to do.”

This is a mindset thing. We aren’t trapped by anything except self-imposed expectations.

So, I sat down and asked myself who I wanted to be this year.

I knew I wanted to be present, really present.

I wanted to be free to fully immerse in the funniest scenes of “Christmas Vacation” and many other holiday favourites – phone off, distractions tuned out.

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