Happy Holidays? NOT More Like Traditions and Triggers!

Trigger Warning: Triggers are different for everyone. You never know when they are going to show up. I am sharing in hopes of helping others.
Everyone has his or her own journey. We each have our own triggers and interpretations of life. My intent is to add in the healing process not cause anxiety or pain. Our experience may be similar but they are each unique. Even though many people could have been at the same event each person experiences and remembers those events through our own eyes and will recall the event differently. My blogs will be from my perspective of my life. I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend. I am not a Doctor, Counselor or Therapist. I believe it is important to work with Doctors, Counselors and Therapist along with Essential Oils, Energy Healing and spirituality to find health, healing and balance.

Today, I could not get out of bed. I didn’t want to face another day longing for Holiday Traditions that have since past. Wanting to create new traditions but to anxious to try for fear of failure, people not participating, and do a lot of work and still feeling empty and discouraged.

I miss the carefree days where Holidays were a joyful time with family and friends making memories and celebrating. Ignorance was bliss. For the last 6 years Holiday Traditions have unraveled with my extended family. The first thread was pulled when I dared ask to have Thanksgiving at my house. I will spare you the details, other than to say, it was when I started realizing how my family saw me and my place in the family.

When I saw the following story “How to tell when your kids’ teasing crosses the line” by Deanie Wimmer, it hit home and made a lot of sense. I was teased by my siblings and in return I would get physical and pin them down and hit them. I don’t excuse my behavior, I did not know how else to defend myself. I was repeatedly told that words don’t hurt people. Unfortunately words are more damaging than the physical attacks. Words can effect a person throughout their life.

Each year more family traditions have stopped. This year there are no family traditions left and I am finding that that is triggering me too. Nothing to pass on to my children, nothing to look forward too. Just the hustle and bustle of buying and giving, but not spending time and creating memories.

Holidays can trigger anxiety and/or depression on several different levels. For some it is having to keep up with the Jones’s. Other may be missing loved ones who are no longer part of your life due to death, divorce, or distance. Some can be triggered by being in large groups while shopping or attending Holiday parties. Keeping up appearances, having to act like everything is okay when it is not. Some experience anxiety about gift giving. Others worry about the family drama and having to get together with so and so. Whatever it might, holidays are supposed to be a time of joy, but there are an increasing number of people that experience higher levels of anxiety and depression during the holidays. I can openly admit I am one of them. Each year getting increasingly worse for me.

So today as I struggled to get out of bed and to face the day I got everyone out the door for work and school then I started to write. As I write I know I need self care. I need Emotional Aroma-therapy. I need to take care of myself first so I can manage my emotions. I put dōTERRA’s Holiday Joy in the defusers. I love the smell and it brings to mind good memories from holidays past. I decided to stop writing to look up the product description and ingredients.

Holiday Joy Essential Oil

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Fill your home with the inviting scent of Holiday Joy Eessential oil blend. The warm, sweet aroma of Holiday Joy creates a welcoming environment for holiday gatherings and can be diffused every day to purify the air and uplift the spirit. This proprietary blend combines Wild Orange, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Clove with the fresh and airy scent of Siberian and Douglas Fir, creating an essential oil blend that’s a dōTERRA Christmas tradition. Diffusing Holiday Joy throughout your home will uplift the soul and warm the spirit as it fills each room with the joyful scent of the season.

PRIMARY USES:

Uplifts mood and enlivens the senses
Purifies and freshens the air and home

USES

Diffuse throughout the home during the holidays
Apply to clothing, coats, and scarves to stay energized while holiday shopping
Create a spritzer to mist holiday trees, garland, or wreathes for a fresh holiday scent
Add one to two drops to a homemade potpourri for the holiday season

I also decided I needed to wear dōTERRA Cheer on as a perfume on my wrists and neck and dōTERRA Balance on my feet to support me finding balance today. I am already feeling my mood shift.

I know how important self care is. I know I get to create what I want for the holidays. I want love, laughter, and peace. I want to create memories with my children and celebrate those things that I am grateful for and the blessing I have been given.

For me Christ is the reason I celebrate Christmas. As I remember to follow his example of love and service I find joy. Everything that brings me anxiety and triggers my depression is the stuff the world has created as Christmas. So time to first take care of myself so I can love and serve others.

May you find your reason for celebrating, take time to take care of yourself and find the joy in the Holidays. Let’s start a new Holiday Tradition, one of loving our self, giving our self the permission to be wherever we are on our journey of healing, create peace with our past, and choose our future.

Beyond Abuse Essential Healing

Helping Each Other Move Beyond Abuse Naturally