Looking back at my life, I have a large collection of memories revolving around the holiday season wedged between Halloween and New Year’s. Is there any other time of the year that creates such a multitude of memories? What other time of the year offers the emotional highs and lows that come with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s? The importance of making the most out of the holidays cannot be overstated. This holiday season will be compared to all others; why not do all you can to make it the best ever?
Many people don't like the holidays because of something bad that happened to them during this time in the past. Has anyone not suffered loss or had a bad experience during the holidays? If we're not careful, the happiness and good cheer of the holidays can be replaced by the negative memories of things that happened in the past, but had nothing do with the holidays other than timing.
One of the problems with trying to make this season the best ever is that there are so many variables that go into the overall experience. If you're not careful, your season can be ruined by external forces beyond your control. There will always be such forces, and you can't do anything about it. While you can't do anything about the external forces, you can always change the way you react to them. You assign meaning to all things. Things are only bad if you interpret them that way.
We're less than two weeks from Thanksgiving. What can you do to make this the best Thanksgiving you've ever had? What will you have to do to make history this holiday season? Will you have to rekindle old relationships? Do you need to mend some fences with other family members? What will you do to make someone else’s Thanksgiving better?
Whatever happens over Thanksgiving, there's still another five weeks of holiday to enjoy. If Thanksgiving doesn’t go as planned, then you still have Christmas. Unless you're a child, the spirit of Christmas is all about giving of yourself and making the world a better place for others. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the receiving of gifts, but there is something to the old adage that it's better to give than to receive.
The benefits of a holiday season done right don't end with the New Year. A holiday season done right acts as a launch pad for the year to come. Look at the holiday season as passing “GO” on a Monopoly board. Try to leave the season in better shape than when you got there.
You can make the most out of this holiday season, or you can treat it with neglect. Maybe you'll even pledge to do better next year. The thing you have to ask yourself is will you even be here next year? If you are here, who do you know that won’t be here next Thanksgiving? Either you or someone you know will be gone from your life one year from now; that's pretty much a fact. You will have only one shot at the holidays this year, so why not do it right?
Resolve to have a good holiday season this year. Resolve to make this holiday season better for others. If you do, you'll find that the second helps accomplish the first. That's true for everybody, especially those of use way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com