Finding My Own December

 “Yeah, December can carry a particular kind of pressure. Even when your life seems okay, you can feel this background hum of comparison. Other people’s milestones and families, other people’s versions of what the seasonal holidays are meant to look like. It’s easy to start measuring yourself against some invisible master checklist and coming up short. Even if you’re fine with where, who and how you are. Even then.” — Yrsa Daley-Ward

There is a particular kind of self‑talk I slip into every December, especially around Christmas. It’s the self‑talk that invites me—sometimes gently, sometimes with a nudge—to accept what is. To soften around the places where I still struggle.

People love the Christmas season for all sorts of reasons: the cleaning, the shopping, the meeting up, the eating, the joy‑spreading in their own way. There’s a buzz, a rush even. Houses getting scrubbed down, supermarkets overflowing, malls packed, traffic backed up for miles. Lights everywhere. Noise everywhere. A kind of collective urgency that I’ve never quite taken to.

I don’t fancy much of the shopping. I don’t enjoy people dropping by unannounced. The traffic, the noise, the frenzy—I often ask myself why it unsettles me so much, and I still don’t have a full answer.

But I do know this: I love the spirit of giving. I love the kindness that surfaces in December. I love seeing people share with those who have less, watching children at community Christmas parties receive toys and snacks with wide, unfiltered joy. That part of the season touches me deeply.

So what is the balance?

Most years, I get out of dodge. I find myself somewhere quiet, somewhere reflective. Over time, I’ve been learning to accept what people enjoy and to see it for what it is—without judgement, without angst, without impatience. Does it work every time? Absolutely not. Not when I’m stuck in traffic near the mall. Not when I run to the supermarket for a simple pack of bulbs and toilet paper and can’t find a single parking spot.

But has acceptance become easier? Yes. With self‑reflection. With awareness. With honesty.

This December, my task is simple and difficult at the same time: to understand what Christmas means to me—and to be okay with that. To release the guilt, the comparisons, the judgement. To make merry in my own way and embody the Spirit of the Season as it feels true to my life.

To be honest about where I am right now—in all areas: finances, relationships, creativity, healing, health. Because when the focus shifts inward, there is less room for comparison

and more room for clarity.

My intention is to make space for something new as one year closes and another begins. To meet myself where I am, and to let that be enough.

May your December be filled with Peace, Abundance and Blessings

What would it look like to honour who you are, exactly as you are, as the year comes to a close?

This January, the Rooted Series will be a space to explore exactly that—how to anchor ourselves in nourishing rhythms while staying open to change. It’s about cultivating habits that ground us, without binding us. If you’re ready to begin the year with balance, presence, and intention, join me in the Rooted journey.

Rooted: Where consistency meets transformation