Hey ya'll!How was your Thanksgiving week?Ours was full of a lot of good food, fun having family back around the table, lots of testosterone, big drama with dogs and a tenacious (and nasty) opossum and, of course, a lot of thankfulness.Here's a little something you might think about for next year's table. I found these cute Thanksgiving placecards, but rather than use them to tell folks where to sit, I wrote a little verse of Thankfulness on each. (The Bible is full of Thanksgiving!). I didn't mention them or make a big deal about the placecards, so it was a nice little surprise during the meal, when they were noticed and we took turns around table reading them. It was so interesting to hear that a couple just happened to be favorite verses.As we begin setting ourselves up for this coming week, with all the decorating beginning, Christmas commercials and planning for more and more on your plate (figuratively) and added gatherings, obligations and just "stuff", how are you setting yourself up?How are you making yourself ready?

The first thing I am doing is making a big pot of this soup. I will have it at the ready for lunches all week long because I know I want to feel good, energized and healthy.

RESET SOUP

I am looking forward to doing some decorating in our new home. It will be fun to see how my "old" decorations look in a new place. I plan to be intentional about what I am dragging out and placing, using what has meaning, w hat we love, and not just hauling and unpacking because it is there.
Focusing on sleep this week. I know. It's a reoccurring theme around here. How? By going to bed by 10 pm every night, putting away my phone an hour before bed, no TV an hour before bed, no munching after dinner, and reading - which typically makes me fall asleep by page 7.
Choosing how I want to feel each day. This is something I talk about and do every day, but the holidays can be a time for some folks to get a little blue, and I can be one of those. Life changes, missed loved ones, or new seasons can bring on nostalgia and mixed emotions. It is important to recognized that and take care of our thoughts, our hearts and focus on how to feel each day.
Move every day. Even if it is not an hour long workout, moving, walking, mobility exercises, shorter workouts, yoga, whatever I can fit in each day and simply NOT sitting more than moving is the goal.
I typically do not jump on the pumpkin train. The thought of a pumpkin latte doesn't really sound appealing to me. There are a lot of pumpkin smoothie promos on instagram and in my email which I haven't tried . . .until today. I thought I'd give it a whirl and see what I've been missing. If you are a pumpkin fan, you may want to give it a try. This is how I made mine, but you can play with it to make it yours. An added bonus is Pumpkin does have a long list of health benefits.

And here is what I am thinking on this week.There are times when things are super busy and you absolutely have to push through, make it work, and manage the best way you can. Some people feel like that during the Holiday season, and perhaps are gearing up to do that push this year especially since we actually CAN do more things this year.During the super busy time in your life, and I'm thinking of things like during a move, a big work project, a job change, a new baby, big event planning, and even the Holidays, how do you feel in the middle AND how do you feel afterwards? You hear the word stress so often during this time of year. And I get it. We ALL have multiple plates spinning at times. (Heck, I've written how I used to feel as if Christmas was another full time job on top of my already full time job). Then, after the rush is over, the Holiday is past, how will you be feeling? Tired? Depleted? Resentful? Maybe a bit unfulfilled?So here is the thing I am really thinking about this week. How much of the stress are we causing ourselves just from the busyness because it's what we do, it's how it's done, it's easier to go with it and complain about it, it's simpler to do it (whatever that is) ourselves, or because setting and keeping new boundaries isn't particularly easy or maybe we haven't learned to say "no"? How much of the chaos is our own doing? Ouch.Really, how much of the chaos are you allowing or creating?When that settles in just a bit. . .Take a second to consider what happens if you lose that "stress" mindset and clear the chaos?How would this Holiday season (and any season) feel if you actually focused on creating the space to do what you need to, to set your priorities, choose the chaos you allow in, and only that (where you can because we all know there will be things out of our control) but that is the beauty of clearing out all of the other, so when something unforeseen happens, an event, a new work project, a stray mutt at your door needing some TLC or heck, an unexpected relative on your doorstep requiring entertainment, you have some space and energy left over to deal with the chaos you didn't choose.This week is a perfect time to consider the chaos. Is it your choosing? What can you choose to let go of?You might be so pleasantly surprised how much more mental space, extra time, and new energy you can bring to this Season. 💚