Meg and I will be traveling to Bradford, PA tonight to spend Thanksgiving with her parents, sister, aunt, and grandmother. We probably won’t be updating the blog over the next few days, because of this. Since Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the “holiday season”, I wanted to write a quick post to join the millions of weight loss posts about the holidays – but I think this one might be a bit different.
One of my absolute favorite blogs out there right now is Holly Would if She Could. She does CrossFit and eats paleo, but that is far from the main substance of her blog. She is open, honest, and genuine about her quest to become the “best version” of herself. I love the blog because I am constantly inspired by her determination to improve herself.
Holly wrote a post last week that I could not agree more with. Her post “Here’s a Holiday Survival Tip: Lower Your Standards” hits the nail on the head for what I am going to try to do this holiday season. I would really encourage everyone who is stressed about weight gain or eating during the holidays to read that post. In a nutshell, my big takeaway from it is to keep things in perspective this holiday season. The beginning of her post includes:
I am really getting sick of reading the same old magazine articles with recycled tips and tricks about how to stay healthy during the holidays.
The holidays are a time when people eat and drink more than they should, and move less than they should. So it is understandable that there are tips and tricks everywhere, but Holly raises a great point: sometimes you need to just enjoy the moment.
My absolute favorite bit of wisdom she includes is:
I generally feel comforted by the fact that I try to do my best. I try to do my best everyday, not just during the holidays. So I am 100% ok with the fact that My Best during November and December looks a little different than My Best during the month of January. And knowing that is a treat in itself.
Should you go crazy and eat trays of Christmas cookies? No. Should you go crazy and stress about every meal and drink? Also: no! That is going to be a very tough balance for the next 6 weeks, but I think it is important that I try to do that.
I want to enjoy my time with family and friends over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. The whole reason I wanted to start losing weight, and the reason I am putting an emphasis on fitness, is to improve my quality of life. I don’t want to sacrifice the enjoyment of spending time with those I love, and breaking bread with them and sharing drinks, at the expense of the quality of life that I am actually trying to improve!
Don’t get me wrong – saying no to a slice of cake is not going to lower my quality of life – if that’s what you’re thinking then you’re missing the point. What I am saying is stressing about that dessert, or worrying about how I am going to “survive” a holiday party, or making a host/hostess uncomfortable with my dietary restrictions – those will have a negative impact on my enjoyment of the holidays. The holidays are about spending valuable time with loved ones, and it’s time we should not take for granted, nor should we allow anything within our control to damper it.
Therefore, I am going to try to make the best decisions I can make, but I am going to also try hard not to stress about desserts, drinks, and other non-paleo choices I plan on making. I am going to have pie tomorrow at Thanksgiving – and I am going to enjoy every bite guilt-free! I am going to enjoy some of my mom’s tremendous cookies around Christmas – and I’m not going to do burpees to atone for my sins. For New Year’s I am going to toast to 2013 with something other than water, surrounded by great friends who I value and love deeply.
As Holly wrote:
Clink a glass of your choice to your families and friendships. Toast to happiness and especially to the health that you work so hard for every single day of the year. Those pumpkin cheesecake filled moments with the ones you love are priceless and they won’t be around forever. Things change, lives change and who wants to be hand wringing over a glass of champagne or a bite of cheesecake when they can be laughing just a little bit too loud with an old pal. Sometimes we do ourselves a favor by lowering our standards.
I couldn’t say it better myself.
Thanks for writing this. It helps me to put things in perspective.
Thanks for sharing, Bob! Such kind words. And seriously, OMG could Stanley be any cuter??????