Remember to enjoy yourself

Put yourself and your fun on the to-do list

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to remember to enjoy yourself, especially during the
holiday season. It can be easy to focus on all

(00:25):
the things that need to get done, but the point
of the season, at least in a secular sense, is
enjoying time with friends and family and making happy memories.
Sometimes it takes a conscious push to remember this, but
that can be a push worth making. So I imagine

(00:46):
that a lot of people listening to this podcast are
the chief magic makers in their families. You ensure that
all family members get equal piles of presents and that
they are equally thrilled by what you have procured. You
make sure that everyone gets to that holiday concert, or
sees the holiday movies, or has tickets to the Nutcracker,

(01:09):
or whatever it is you plan to do. Perhaps you
make sure that extended family members are visited as well.
All of this is work, it can be challenging work.
My husband and I sat down with our calendars to
make sure someone would be at all the various Christmas
concerts and shows. I will come up with a lot

(01:31):
of presents and make sure they are all beautifully wrapped.
Somewhere in the middle of getting stuck in a long
line at Target while I am trying to make sure
that everyone has the same number of presents, I am
no doubt going to feel a bit grinchish. So this
goes on the list too. Remember to enjoy yourself. When

(01:55):
I made a holiday fund list this year, I actually
made a point of putting stuff on there that was
fun for me. I want to go see the Nutcracker.
I want to sing in multiple Christmas concerts and I
will be doing so. I want to go to Longwood
Gardens without children this year, so no one can hustle
me through the beautiful greenhouse and whine at me that

(02:17):
they want to leave as I am looking at the ornaments.
I mean, perhaps my husband will want to leave as well,
but he's a bit more subtle on this front. You
might also make sure that you've got some holiday magic happening,
and I mean magic for you as you plan each week,
make sure that there is something you are genuinely looking

(02:39):
forward to. If you have made a schedule and there
isn't anything that you find fun, go back and rework
things until there is. And then while this fun thing
is happening. Pause to savor it. Remind yourself, I am
having fun now. That may sound silly to say, because

(03:02):
we tend to think that fun should hit us in
the face. But I can tell you that this isn't true.
Sometimes it's more after the fact that we're like, oh, yes,
this was actually fun. So in the middle of it,
pause to have that thought. You will appreciate the experience
more and that can get you through a few visits

(03:24):
to shopping Mall Santo's. In the meantime, This is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

(03:48):
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.