Hang up and Hangout for the Holidays!
The Holiday season is coming up and there is so much to do and so many people to see that it almost seems overwhelming! You have your calendar on your phone of all the appointments and dinner parties you have in store, your constantly on Snap Chat capturing the moments you are experiencing for all the world to see, and then all of a sudden as if you had blinked, the holiday season is over and your reality is hitting you like a truck. The reality is you could have spent more time relishing the moments you had with friends and family, but our lives are so consumed with our phones and social media that we tend to almost go through the holiday season in a daze.
We are in a state of constant communication. We spend most of our lives twiddling our thumb muscles to craft the perfect text, caption, angle all in order to what? To show your followers that the life you are living is the best life and that you are #goals. Whether we admit it or not we are all guilty. Even I get texts from my mom “Go comment on my Facebook post” and as annoying and aggravating it is that it is our reality, now that we know it we can work around it in order to have the best holiday experience our soul needs. You are welcome for diagnosing this worldwide plague of technological stress by the way. The whole key about unplugging for the holidays is changing your mindset to the belief that your job, your friends, your followers etc. will crumble to pieces if you are not at your phone every moment of the day. That mindset is very selfish and narcissistic because the world does not revolve around you. It will continue to spin on its axis, today will turn into tomorrow, time will pass and your life will be the consequence of how much meaning you put into it. So changing your mindset is a great start, next you are going to want to set an intention for the Holiday season. Whether that is to finally mend a broken bridge with a family member, open up to your sister’s new husband, or even keep your cool if your family pries and asks incredibly inappropriate and intrusive questions. My mom used to say “They are family. If they’re not making you uncomfortable they are not doing their job” So, try to take their ‘suggestions’ with a grain of salt. They come from a different generation and their ignorance is out of the purest form of love they can give you. No matter where you are or who you are spending your holiday with: Try and make that your sole community of the holiday season. The power of community is the strongest power a person needs outside of themselves. Set realistic guidelines on when you can use your phone. Maybe make it when you excuse yourself to “go to the bathroom” but only “go to the bathroom” twice. If you need to use your phone to speak to a loved one that you cannot see over the holidays try and make a time to do it before so you are not constantly on your phone trying to reach them. These are some of the tips I try to implement when it comes to spending the holidays with my family. I am guilty of being addicted to my phone when it comes to the world beyond the four walls of my comfortable home. But, as I have gotten older and see my family and friends less and less I truly try to ‘hang up and hang out’ because I do not want to look back on memories of my family time and realize I did not lift my head long enough to have a genuine conversation with my 92-year-old grandfather or sit with my baby cousin and coo at her adorableness. Life is so precious why waste it projecting it on social media? Make #goals your reality. Do not waste too much of your life painting that picture you want others to see of you.
My mom used to say “They are family. If they’re not making you uncomfortable they are not doing their job” So, try to take their ‘suggestions’ with a grain of salt. They come from a different generation and their ignorance is out of the purest form of love they can give you. No matter where you are or who you are spending your holiday with: Try and make that your sole community of the holiday season. The power of community is the strongest power a person needs outside of themselves. Set realistic guidelines on when you can use your phone. Maybe make it when you excuse yourself to “go to the bathroom” but only “go to the bathroom” twice. If you need to use your phone to speak to a loved one that you cannot see over the holidays try and make a time to do it before so you are not constantly on your phone trying to reach them. These are some of the tips I try to implement when it comes to spending the holidays with my family. I am guilty of being addicted to my phone when it comes to the world beyond the four walls of my comfortable home. But, as I have gotten older and see my family and friends less and less I truly try to ‘hang up and hang out’ because I do not want to look back on memories of my family time and realize I did not lift my head long enough to have a genuine conversation with my 92-year-old grandfather or sit with my baby cousin and coo at her adorableness. Life is so precious why waste it projecting it on social media? Make #goals your reality. Do not waste too much of your life painting that picture you want others to see of you.
So Hangup, Hang out, and have a WONDERFUL holiday season!
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