How to Create a “Healthy Holiday Look Back Story”
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but perhaps you ate or drank a little too much than you had hoped for, and you’re feeling bad about yourself.
If this is the case, my hope is that my Merry & Light Holiday Checklist will come in handy for the rest of the season.
But even more so, I hope you will forgive yourself, put your “transgressions” behind you, and look forward to what’s coming up next – the last five weeks of the year:
How will you approach the rest of the holiday season?
How do you want to enjoy them?
How do you want to feel come December 31st?
I have some insights I’d like to share with you, as well as encourage you to write up a “Healthy Holiday Look Back Story.”
It’ll help you take the next step toward creating a holiday season that you look back on and feel great about – physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Your “Holiday Look Back Story” is what you want the rest of your holidays to look and feel like.
Keep in mind that your “story” needs to be written in the past tense, as if it has already happened.
It’s also important that your “story” be realistic enough for you to believe it COULD happen.
If you write it and it feels like a far out fantasy, then (without judgment) start over, but this time in a way that might be more accurate to where you are now and where you COULD be by the end of the year.
Here’s an example of what yours could be like:
“I started my ‘Healthy Holiday Look Back Story’ right after Thanksgiving where I wrote out what I wanted my holidays to look and feel like as if I was looking back on it on December 31st.
I planned out all the treats I was going to ‘allow’ myself to have, without guilt.
I reminded myself that these special treats only come around once a year and I wanted to enjoy them with my family and friends.
I didn’t punish myself for eating or drinking too much; instead, if I found myself overindulging more than I planned, I referred to #9 on Kim’s ‘Merry & Light Holiday Checklist’ and I forgave myself and asked myself what I could have done differently next time to put myself in a better situation.
Instead of beating myself up, I took a wiser approach of learning the lesson – things like bringing a snack to work and making sure I ate that if I was hungry, helped me stay away from the holiday office treats.
More importantly, I realized that I can learn the lesson without punishing myself, and that feels really good.
With this approach, I was able to put myself in a better situation the next time it came around, instead of all the blaming and shaming I usually put on myself.
This allowed me to have a healthier mindset around food and drink and helped me just really enjoy the holidays more altogether.
For the first time, I actually feel better – physically, mentally, and emotionally – than I ever have at this time of year.
I feel ‘full’ – full of love, joy, peace, and surprisingly, I feel pretty healthy and this makes me excited to start 2018.
What could be for me this coming year?
I’m excited to start thinking about it.”
Of course that was just an example, but I hope it gives you an idea of what your “Healthy Holiday Look Back Story” can sound like.
If you’re ready to write yours (the sooner the better), go ahead and get your journal out and begin (honestly, if a piece of paper is what’s closest at hand, that’s completely fine too).
Here are some questions to help you get started:
- How do you want to feel at the end of the holidays? What’s maybe one word to describe that feeling?
- What did you enjoy most about the holidays?
- How did you approach your health?
- What did you make sure you did or didn’t do to get the most out of the holidays, while still being mindful of your health?
- What are you most proud of yourself for doing or not doing?
Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to write your “Healthy Holiday Look Back Story.”
It can be as long or as short as you’d like – it’s YOURS.
If you want to share yours with me for some accountability (I’ll reach out at the end of the year to ask you how it went), please feel free to do so.
Just email me your “story” here: kim@transformationwellnessforwomen.com
Wishing you a healthy & happy holiday season,
P.S. For a few more tips, check out a previous article I wrote: “5 Tips to Creating Your Look Back Story.”
