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finding joy one day at a time

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planning ahead

What Lies Ahead

Christmas has come and gone, and in only one short week, we’ll be enjoying the first days of a brand new year.

This is always a slightly surreal time of year for me — this week between Christmas and New Years.

What day even is it?

With businesses closed for Christmas and no mail delivery, my standard ways of marking time fail me, and I find it hard to keep my days straight. Today might be a Wednesday, but it feels like Monday after four straight days of Saturdays and Sundays. And next week it’s more of the same with a repeat of the schedule.

It’s not “normal time” because the kids are off school and people take days away from work in order to spend extra time with their families. Plus, those same people are looking for things to do, which means the places that are usually deserted during the day are packed with people.

And though it’s still the holidays, the end is in sight. Sort of like when there are only a couple of days left of your summer vacation. Vacation isn’t over yet, but the end looms on the horizon.

But not quite yet! So don’t rush it!

Embrace the slower pace of this week between Christmas and New Year’s Day because it’s the perfect time for reflection and introspection. Thinking back on the current year in order to plan ahead for what’s to come.

Savor the end of this special season by celebrating YOU!

Look at you! You’re still here…and that’s not nothing.

What big things did you accomplish in the past year? What challenges did you overcome? What good surprises came your way? What were your absolute best moments of the last 365 days?

And then what lies ahead?

Turning over a new year on the calendar is like taking a first step into a meadow covered with freshly fallen snow. Where will those tracks take you? Where will your life’s journey lead you? What are you looking forward to in the new year? What change do you anticipate in the days that are spread out in front of you?

Take a moment to think about the amazing gift a new year can be – filled with possibilities and new challenges.

Fresh starts are the topic of the last lesson in my Savor One Season – The Holidays online class, so as my gift to you this holiday season, I’ve got a coupon for anyone who wants to sneak in Savor One Season. Just visit the class online at Teachable.com any time between now and the end of the year, and with the coupon code HALFOFF, you’ll receive a 50% end of season discount on the class.

And, I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already joined me on a journey to Savor One Season – The Holidays…THANK YOU! I hope you learned as much from the course as I did during the process of developing it.

I hope to see all of you in 2019! I’m excited about the possibilities of the upcoming year, especially a new online course I’m creating called “The One Who Dies with the Most Fabric Wins.”

Keep reading my weekly mailings or dropping by my blog, and I promise to keep you posted with details. 🙂

Filed Under: Gina Prosch Blog Tagged With: fresh start, it's going to be a great year, looking forward, new year, planning ahead

Planning for Chaos

skatesFor some people it’s the holidays. For others it’s October and one too many fall festivals. For us, time marches on…to March, the month that goes kablooey.

See, here’s the deal: my son ice skates, which means, for our family, March is The. Ice. Show.

For going on 60 years now, our local ice rink puts on an amazing ice show every year (it’s the longest continuously running ice show in Missouri), and a couple of weeks later, we host an ice skating competition. It’s two big events, one right after another — so there’s extra rehearsals, extra practice time on the ice, visits from out of town relatives, and …well, kablooey!

The first year Wyatt participated, we didn’t know what we were getting into, but “it’ll be fun.” And, indeed it was fun…but March was a train wreck.

The next year, I thought the first year was an anomaly and the second time around it would be better.

Not so much.

By the third time at the rodeo, rather that fight against it, I realized we needed to plan for March hitching a ride on the crazy train. It was the new normal. We know that beyond this point in the calendar there be dragons…and we plan accordingly.

The week after the ice show (when we are tired) we take the week off from school. Aah, the joys of homeschooling!

Because the ice competition is two weeks after the show, we keep all the other weekends in March free of commitments.

The freezer and pantry are both stocked with the ingredients for quick meals and snacks (tuna tetrazinni, spaghetti, chili & cinnamon rolls), and I’m made peace with the fact that sometimes we may just hit the drive-thru and bring home a pizza. It’s hot (mostly), and it keeps us from starving.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a family event like this one or a business event (like planning a conference or dealing with a major project), plan ahead. Especially plan ahead to practicing a little self-empathy.

We’re just a little human family — and being nice to ourselves helps make the chaos more manageable.

Filed Under: Gina Prosch Blog, Its Only Homeschool Tagged With: chaos, dont add anything to the calendar, get some sleep, planning ahead, take a deep breath

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