Here we are again – December has arrived and Christmas is less than three weeks away.
Despite my best intentions; I will need to complete all my Christmas shopping in the worst two shopping weeks of the year. It will be chaotic and crowded. And because I reside on the Gold Coast – I will also be confronted in every shopping centre by an influx of holidaymakers and…’Schoolies’.
I, unfortunately, have no-one else to blame for my predicament other than myself.
Don’t get me wrong – I actually don’t mind Christmas shopping as long as I have my list, a plan of attack, know exactly where I need to go, and it takes me no longer than three or four hours. I know – it’s very ambitious!
Every year I promise myself that next year will be different, that I will be more organised and start my Christmas shopping process much earlier (not as early as a couple of people who I know). They start by rushing off to the Boxing day sale the day after Christmas, personally, I could not think of anything worse.
So – when is the best time to start your Christmas shopping?
Sorry to disappoint, but to be perfectly honest I have no idea. I am sure there are a number of very good well-known weekly magazines who can provide you with the answer.
All I know is that as I age, the time between each Christmas seems to get shorter and shorter as every year goes by – in what appears to be on occasions – a blur.
I do understand that this is not the case, and that time is constant and does not shorten as we age (despite what we think). There is still 52 weeks in the year, 7 days in a week, and 24 hours in a day.
So why is this the case, why do I feel like there is not enough time to organise certain parts of my life, and that my life (especially at this time of year) is moving at the speed of sound?
After some intense soul searching – I realised that maybe I am trying to do too much. I have not allowed myself anytime to just sit, breath, relax, and watch.
Yes – for most of us our lives are complicated and hectic. Between work and the personal issues we all deal with on a daily basis; there is just no time for the indulgence of sitting down and genuinely relaxing.
I watch young children when they play, especially by themselves, and there appears to be a degree of quiet satisfaction. All they are concentrating on is just in that moment, they are not concerned about what is going to happen in the next hour, or the next week, they are just caught up in the moment.
This is what I am missing, a moment, when I am not concerned about what is going to happen in the next hour, the next week, or what actions I need to take – if any.
I need to allow myself an hour to watch the world go by and not feel guilty about the fact that I am doing nothing. It does sound easy, but for some people (myself included) a feeling of guilt can take out all the enjoyment of this one hour of quiet reflection.
I can hear your howls of skepticism, and I know that one quiet reflective hour may not slow the year down but maybe it will allow me to make more sense of what has happened to the past year, relax, and enjoy the next 12 months at a far more leisurely pace.
And if I get all my Christmas shopping done in October or November next year – you will know that one quiet hour of reflection has been affective – fingers crossed!
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