Clark Griswold sure had major problems keeping the holiday lights aglow on his Christmas tree and house. How ’bout your light quotient – within – this holiday season?
Okay, I’ll admit it. Watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a personal holiday season necessity. I think it’s a hoot-and-a-half.
Poor old Clark does all he can to create a “good, old-fashioned family Christmas.” But between his cousin-in-law Eddie, his scrooge of a boss, and, yes, the Christmas tree and house lights – he has a rough go of it.
Keeping Your Internal Lights Aglow
So that’s Clark Griswold’s dilemma. How ’bout yours? Are you having a tough time keeping the lights aglow – within – this holiday season?
Hey! It can be a tough task for anyone. But if you’re enduring depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder – even if you’re not in the midst of a nasty episode – keeping the wattage up can be hard.
Think (and feel) about it. This time of year, there’s just so much that hits home, all at the same time. Family and social expectations, memories of holidays past (sweet and bitter), financial stress, and more – what a load!
And spreading the frosting on the Christmas cookies are the life stressors you routinely try to manage – day in and day out. Is it any wonder daily power outages occur?
The Task At Hand
So what can you do about your particular light quotient dilemma? Well, you knew I’d have a couple of angles, right?
This may seem like an odd time for a quote from Albert Einstein, but let’s give it a go…
“A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But, intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.”
I guess where I’m going here is suggesting you first use intuition – based upon your personal experience – to approach the dimness. You’ve no doubt been in the same situation in the past – and I’m guessing you’ve emerged. Perhaps not each and every time, but in terms of experience, once is enough.
So why not use those experiences to your immediate advantage? Indeed, what’s worked for you in the past? How did you pull it off? What steps did you take? And most importantly of all, how can you apply it now?
Now, as much as working from experience is a trusted and effective way to manage difficult times, why not incorporate new ideas? However, doing so means acquiring and sustaining a true willingness to learn.
To that end, what have you picked-up out and about? What have you seen working for others? What specifically did you like? Well, start jotting it all down and begin to put it to good use.
A Curious Season
The holiday season is curious, isn’t it? Light is the theme, yet it’s so easy to feel horribly dark. Well, guess what? The only person who can make a – the – difference is you.
But you know that, don’t you?
Yep! You can scream ’til the cows come home, “Would somebody turn on the lights?!” But the final flipper of the switch is you.
So take on some Clark Griswold character traits. That poor guy took each and every barrier to his “good, old-fashioned family Christmas” head-on. And he overcame.
That in and of itself was great. But in my opinion, the ultimate lesson was this: the way things turned-out wasn’t in compliance with the original plan.
And you know what? The outcome was still stupendous. In fact, it exceeded expectation.
Hang in there, okay? You can do this…
image credit: Warner Bros.
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