What I Saw Over The Last Holiday Season

The intention behind this post is to give you some insight on a reflection that I had come January of this year. I don’t know about you, but I always feel like I had into the holidays fast and furious. And I head out feeling like I’ve been in a whirlwind. I can’t always recall the different things that took place. I can’t always remember those memories that I stopped to intentionally make each week or each weekend. So… I made it a near year-long venture to take what happened in the holidays of 2023 with my coaching and my clients… And bring it back out for the entrance to the 2024 holidays. my hopes with this is that we are able to see some of the things that have tripped us up in previous holidays before the busyness and the hurry takeover.

At the end of last year, I had a lot of time reflecting on this blog and thinking about how my coaching had evolved a little bit because of the creativity I was able to display here. I was able to provide a lot more strategy to a lot more people because I was writing it down and sharing for all. I slowed myself down enough to publish it here and try to help more than a single individual. I will admit that is a little difficult as a coach. We want to help so many people and with all of their different life things but so many peoples life things can use similar strategies.

SOOOOOO… This is my reflection and I’m hoping that it spurs thought for what you might need ahead. things that can slow you down in the hurry. Help you remember what the season is about. Leave you with the memories of the moments that you made intentional because you were able to strategize and plan the things that didn’t matter as much.

A Beautiful Mess with Togetherness & Separation

Some of the first things that I noticed while doing my reflection was how often we were together with others and how often we were separated. I had many different clients that were working to navigate dinners and work events and back to back social events. There were things like cookie exchanges, and parties with all the different areas of life and the people that were in those. Lots and lots of traveling or family visiting.

And those are all the beautiful and wonderful things… but they also come with the not so beautiful things.

A lot of different people were dealing with really hard emotional moments around other people. The holidays revealed a lot of beliefs and mindset challenges for many. I was receiving messages regarding issues over weight being discussed, eating habits knowledged by others, self-guilt trips & people pleasing, emotional exhaustion and SAD (Seasonal affective disorder).

There was also a lot of sickness. Many people were running themselves ragged and found themselves taken down by multiple sicknesses or sicknesses within their household.

And finally…. A lot of emotions for what’s missing. Yes, this is the time of year that we try to focus on gratitude and the reason for the season… but there are also a lot of people that experience a lot of grief. There are things that are missing in their lives that they wish that they had. People that have passed. Plans that don’t go as they should. A lot of questions regarding life choices. And even more internal conflict regarding temporary satisfaction or long-term satisfaction.

And what I challenged you to do with this information… try to see if this helps you reflect a little bit on the previous holiday season.

• What went well?
• What didn’t go well?
• What did you swear off at the end of the season?
• What did you feel you completely missed out on last season?

When we think about these things, it helps put our sight on what we truly want. We can put together strategies and goals. We can set intentions. We can look back in January 20 25 at a holiday season that was filled with all of the things that we wanted it to be filled with.

It helps us live an intentional life.

• Back to School Time: Before, During & After Sickness
• Surviving the Holidays
• Weight Worries, Holiday Fun & “Vacation Mode”
• Road Trips: Snacks, Stops & Hunger
• Traveling, Vacation & Weight Management Guide

Food challenges with holiday fare and unsupportive people 

This goes a little bit more in-depth to some of the things I will work hand in hand with clients regarding. I highly suggest looking through this list and seeing if any of these things spur curiosity.

Have you experienced any of these?

Do you think that any of these shine light on something you’ve previously struggled with?

Because more than likely, it’s about to happen again. What we do not change through reflection, assessment, and strategizing… We will default to what we’ve done before. It’s simply how we work. Our brains want to give us the easiest answer. And the easiest answer isn’t always the answer that aligns with everything that we’re aiming for. It is simply the easiest.

There are a lot of different resources that can help with each and every one of these things. And it can be as simple as an audiobook for you to listen to while you’re driving around and taking care of everything you need to. That’s it. Seriously. I’m sure you’ve heard people say… This was the one book that changed my life. that could very well be the resolution to everything that you experience in the holiday season.

• Mindful Eating & Food Environments for Weight Management
• Unsupportive People with Health Journeys: Food Pushers
• Unsupportive People with Health Journeys: Food Police
• Unsupportive People with Health Journeys: The Comparers
• Weight Loss Struggles: Stressed or Blessed?

Client wins with strategy refinement and mindfulness

In my reflections, I always pay attention to the obstacles or the things that triggered delays or frustration, but I also look for all of the good things that did take place.

And I have to tell you that this last holiday season… coaching clients through some of these wins very rewarding personally. I got to celebrate different moments with people as they changed their default. They walked away from hard moments feeling like a conqueror. They stepped into January with a firm foundation to achieve more goals in 2024.

Just like I have prompted you above… I am going to prompt you now.

Do any of these intrigue you? Curiosity alone can start the fire. It can bring about creativity, problem-solving and interest. Pressing in when you feel that stir of curiosity can pull you out of a sense of frustration because it gives you hope in building capability and confidence.

Again, being able to dive into some of these things might be daunting because you already have so much in front of you but one podcast, one article one conversation, or one book could change everything for you. All it ever takes is a little bit of humility to know that you don’t know everything and a little bit of curiosity to want to strive to know a little bit more.

• A Guide for Mindful Eating
• The “BASICS” of Mindful Eating
• Ways of Tracking Food Consumption & Its Effectiveness for Weight Loss
• Healthy Habit Change: Big Rocks, Small Rocks & Sand

Takeaway

I thank you so much for taking the time to go through my reflection of the previous year.

I hope this has helped you take a look at what you have ahead and set some intentions to make this the holiday season that you do remember those really great memories that you are scheduling and running around and buying all the things for.

I wish you a very intentional holiday season!

With love,

Coach Nik