Something always happens to me around December 15. Ten days before Christmas, I wake up with sugarplums dancing in my head. My Christmas spirit is here! (I have to admit I’m a bit of a Grinch until then.)

That means it is time to watch my favorite Christmas movie and the only one I must see every year, The Muppet Christmas Carol. I just adore this movie: the Muppets and Charles Dickens, who could ask for anything more? In this lovely, heartfelt film, Kermit the Frog (as Bob Cratchit) comforts his family with:

It’s all right, children. Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it.

When I watched this movie for the first time as a 10-year-old, I was just as touched by this line as I am today. I cried when I watched it just this evening!

The holidays can be very stressful. My work has taught me that life can be made up of the meetings and partings that can make reconnecting with our families, old memories, and hometowns tough. Like Kermit tells us, life will be full of changes, whether we work for them or they just happen to us. It is the way things are and we can choose to move with grace through them or resist the changes, only hurting ourselves in the process.

During the holidays, I make sure to practice good self-care: walking, Me Time, asking for help, and journaling are a few things that help me during this season. What self-care techniques help you when you are overwhelmed?

With the holiday season upon us, it will soon be a new year. When you reflect upon 2017, do you feel gratitude for where you’ve come? Excitement about what’s next? Or would you like to make sure that 2018 has fewer challenges than this year did? With this year winding down, this is a great time to make a commitment to yourself. 2018 is a great year to work through what has been holding you back from your best and most joyful self.

If you’d like to discuss how to make 2018 your best year yet, let’s chat.