Tis Not the Season to Be Crochety

annca via Pixabay

I never wanted to be a crochety old lady. Still don't. And while I'm not there yet on either mood or age, I'm beginning to understand how people get there.

Change is, as they say, hard. While I recognize this in the big things (it's hard to miss when you work as a counselor), it's only recently that I've begun to realize that, even for adults, seemingly small changes can be hard, too.

Most of us pride ourselves on taking charge of our time. We make lists, create schedules, craft routines.

And then life happens. We can either adjust cheerfully or we can become...

Crochety.

Opportunities to land on one side of this line or the other seem to arise with even greater frequency during the holiday season. We make plans to work our way through our lists, but some days, everything from traffic to the common cold seems to conspire against us. Before we know it, holiday cheer is replaced by...

Crochetiness.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend the season grousing and griping. But, by the same token, I know that actually celebrating Christmas on time requires a certain amount of adherence to lists, schedules and routines.

So, this season, I'm going to try to keep the main goal -- a merry Christmas -- in mind. I'm going to try to keep my priorities straight and practice being flexible, not rigid; cheerful, not crochety. Instead of gritting my teeth when I have to toss my best laid plans into the air like so much confetti, I'm going to tackle the big stuff and hope the small stuff, like the confetti, lands in places where its sparkle enhances the celebration.

We'll see how it goes.