Contribution to The Weekly Smile: “Holidays and Change – One Step At a Time” #weeklysmile

  There’s a lot I could contribute to the Weekly Smile this week, but I think I’ll save some of it for my personal posts. Today, I wanted to share something I’ve not only learned but started practicing in life. 

Keeping up with goals is harder than ever these days, and I have it on excellent authority it will probably get harder. So I decided to follow the advice of my best friend and mentor, Alura, in the recent post she did on her spiritual lifestyle blog (which I shared here) and began organizing my day in a different way. I cut out some of the things I do on a daily basis to make time to work on my goals. As a result, I find I’m not only continuing to make headway on the bigger things but also making some new memories and having more fun. 

For instance, my mother and I usually watch a movie we have on DVD in the evening (we haven’t watched or even owned a television set in years – thank goodness!). Instead, we watched a thirty-minute episode of one of our favorite shows that I got from the library and then spent the rest of the evening making Christmas cards and slipping them under our neighbors’ doors. I love surprising people and had been wanting to do some more crafting for weeks but hadn’t had the time. I then wrote a letter to a dear friend who’s been having major financial trouble so that she won’t feel so alone during the holiday season.

  A lot of people seem to think they have to send all their cards and gifts out by a certain date during this time of year, but I’ve never found timing to be very important when it comes to this. Think of how many people get a lot of well-wishes on Christmas Day and are forgotten about the day after? Maybe that’s one of the reason this season is a big let-down for so many. (I know there are other reason, believe me. I’ve suffered with them, too.) It doesn’t matter how small your contribution is. It could mean the world to the person in need. Sometimes the people who need the most support are the ones closest to you, as well. Never pass up an opportunity to show them you care – not with money, gift cards, or electronics that lose most of their value before you leave the store. Time, attention, conversation, showing interest in their lives, compassion, empathy, instruction, and even just a listening ear are gifts that increase in value the more they’re given.

Too many people focus only on themselves, and the current situation that everyone is so focused on only pushes us all more towards looking out for number one. They say change starts with you, and it’s so true! I hope I brought a smile to at least a couple of people this week, and I’m determined not to make this a purely seasonal practice.

• E.W.