As the famous artist Salvador Dalí once said, “Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.”
I don’t know about you but all many of us want for Christmas Is …. peace! Yes, of course you want peace on earth. But let’s be honest, you want and probably deserve a little peace yourself. It has been a long and full year and the holidays is not only a time to celebrate and spend with family but it is also a time to recharge your batteries before the New Year.
Finding peace means saying good-bye to perfection! So how do you do this? Adopt the following four mantras:
Short cuts are good
Your mother and her mother before her probably did make everything from scratch. But it is a good bet that they did not have the level of daily commitments that you do. So it is time to use the short cuts that the modern supermarket provides. And do it guilt-free!
Cut back on commitments
The holidays bring on a lot of extra commitments with class and office parties, holiday events in the community and many family affairs. Make realistic decisions about how much you can commit to and if you feel that an event is really important but you just don’t know if you can fit it in, ask a friend or grandparent to escort your kids.
Get help
Get some extra time for a sitter so you can wrap presents or bake holiday goods in advance. Ask your nanny if she will take on the laundry if you increase her salary. You know best where you would benefit from some extra help; so do it! If you need help finding someone, www.SOSsitter.ca is your first stop for help.
Let it go!
That is right – let it go! You are likely putting more pressure on yourself than anyone else. So you need to let yourself off the hook. And when you feel yourself slipping back into your old ways of trying to do it all, remember what the famous writer Leo Tolstoy said in his book Anna Karenina: “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
Here’s to enjoying some of that peace on earth!