The time was I would send out a slew of holiday cards—each one with a personal message included.

I loved shopping the after Christmas sales at museums and stores like Papyrus, picking out unique and fun cards to use when the holidays rolled around again.

I kept a database of all my card recipients, adding to it each year, and tracking which cards I sent to each person every single year so I would be sure not to repeat.

That’s how crazy I am about this tradition I’d started for myself.

Or, I should say, I was.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about my dad (The Entrepreneur that Wasn’t) and how he died three years ago, just before Thanksgiving. It was also exactly one month before his 88th birthday.

He’d gone into the hospital in early October and about a month or so later he came home into hospice care.

As you can imagine, I didn’t have much appetite or time for holiday cards that year, even though I’d done my card shopping in January as usual.

Then, two years of pandemic sapped my motivation, and I just didn’t feel like I had an earnest, hopeful message to impart.

Fast forward to this year and, while I really thought about pulling down those lovely cards and getting to work, I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

And here we are just a few weeks from the new year and those cards are still stowed away on a high shelf in my bedroom closet.

Do I feel bad about it? A little.

But if I’m being honest, I mostly feel relieved.

Maybe I’ll never pull that stash of cards out, and they’ll just sit there a mute reminder of how I used to embrace the holiday season.

More likely, the day will come when I’m ready to get back to it. When I’ll be able to compose messages of hope and joy. When I'll joyfully shop the after-Christmas sales looking for the perfect embassadors for my holiday messages.

What I’ve realized these past few years is that there’s no one way to navigate this time of year. And that it hits different year-to-year. And that's okay.

I’ve had a lot of conversations recently where people are feeling stressed and anxious. There have been tearful confessions of worry about the future, regrets about the year that’s passing, and perceived failures and shortcomings big and small.

If you can relate, then please know you are not alone. It's not just you.

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In an attempt to keep my own holiday season even keeled this year, here are a few things I’m doing, which you may find helpful, too:

• Listing out my accomplishments for the year and actually celebrating them!
• Identifying 3 key accomplishments I want to celebrate at the end of 2023.
• Reviving my daily gratitude list to keep all those things top of mind.
• Acknowledging my fears, worries, and negative emotions in a journal so I’m not carrying them around in my head all the time.
• Prioritizing taking care of myself and protecting my time and emotional wellbeing. (If you need some help with this, check out How to Say 'No').

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So, whether you love the holidays, loath them, or are indifferent about them this year, I hope you’re doing what you need to do to ‘do you’ rather than bowing to some preconceived notion of what your holidays should be.

If you need support in this, I’m here for you.

Until next week, remember to put yourself at the top of your gift list this holiday season and give yourself whatever it is you truly need.
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PS - If you missed it, last week I was all about That Time of Year.

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