Remember the time when you believed that Santa Claus travelled with his team of flying reindeer to drop off our gifts come Christmas eve? I used to write letters to him every year, telling him of the many times I behaved very well and how I deserved treats for being a good little girl.
When I did something naughty, I would immediately think of Santa Claus and wish he hadn’t seen it. I don’t remember exactly when I stopped staying up all night on Christmas eve, but maybe it was when I realized that the note, “Love, Santa Claus,” from the gift I had supposedly received from him was written in my mother’s handwriting.
When I look back, I remember my younger, wide-eyed self almost always fascinated by the trivial things like holidays and bubbles and gift wrappers. Sure, I had always been the little girl who you’d find crying and screaming out of fright at mall photo opportunities with a costumed Santa Claus, but I still had the big, lighted Christmas trees to mesmerize me by.
Except that now, unfortunately, when someone mentions Christmas lights and Christmas decor, all I ever think about is the stress in setting them up and packing them away after the holidays. And that’s precisely where all adult problems come in.
The fascination and quiet wonder of children have stayed with children. Those who have transitioned to adulthood have forgotten the simple joys of their childhood and have allowed themselves to get swept up by the tremendous job of “reaching for your dreams” and basically by the routine activities of their daily lives. Myself included.
It’s fairly easy to be cynical about life as your optimism can unknowingly blur at the first sign of a challenge. A lot of people wake up everyday dreading what’s in store for them, merely settling for their daily routines. Negative thoughts take over, all the more making it hard for us to see the good in the simplest things.
This attitude of focusing on the negatives dampens our positive outlook and therefore, our spirits.
Negativity becomes a barrier against happiness, reaching our goals and earning success. When you are constantly putting yourself down, you are unable to accept defeats as opposed to if you inject yourself with positive thinking and affirmations, you are able to find humor in your mistakes and learn from bad situations.
Be an advocate of positive thinking. Negate the negatives. Most of the time, all we need to uplift ourselves is to enjoy what has always made us happy. Remember your childhood. Make yourself a cup of your favorite hot chocolate. Set up a Christmas tree.
Appreciate and be grateful for the most random things. When you start feeling good about yourself, when you remember how it is to be the child who was always fascinated and curious, then positivity will start coming in. Soon you’ll find yourself radiating happiness and you’ll be surprised at how positively this will have affected the people around you. Eliminate the bad stress and leave the good ones. Practice affirming yourself and exercise positive thinking. Enjoy being an adult as much as you have enjoyed being a child. Be mesmerized. Be fascinated.
I have a one-year-old daughter who’s about to celebrate her first Christmas as a mobile and curious toddler. It will be fun setting up the Christmas lights and dressing up the Christmas tree this year as this will be the first time that my husband and I will get to witness our very own child become mesmerized and fascinated. Somehow, having our own daughter brings out the children in us.
And as I have a few more years before my daughter notices that her mother’s handwriting seems to be very close to Santa’s own, I might as well start telling her the story of Santa Claus and his team of flying reindeer.
