Adding a little sparkle to our lives is important, especially now. If you don’t agree, please hear us out.
The days are dark in more ways than one at the moment. If we watch the news, we’re bombarded with tragedies, some natural, many man-made. Lives being lost in horrific circumstances, families torn apart – and then there’s the climate, and what’s happening to our natural world. It seems that everything around us is crumbling. So what can we do to avoid overwhelm, lift our spirits, and feel happier?
Is it OK to Be Happy When Things Aren’t Great in the World?
It’s perfectly normal for external events to affect us, and of course we should care. But does that mean that we have to miserable ourselves? How does that help anyone else?
When things are feeling bad, sad, depressing etc, it’s even more important that we prioritise self-care and look after our mental health.
Giving Ourselves Permission to Smile (and Sparkle)
Being happy isn’t a crime. Most people who are suffering wouldn’t expect the rest of the world to suffer with them. Yes, they’d expect empathy (and sympathy, where it’s required), but they wouldn’t want us to be unhappy.
When we experience loss, those closest to us feel our pain. We all deal with grief and loss in different ways, and there’s no right or wrong way to handle it. Being there for our friends and family when they need us is a given. Being miserable on their behalf isn’t, and won’t help them.
We need to give ourselves permission to smile, even during the worst times. Especially during the worst times.
The Season of Sparkle
If December isn’t the month for adding sparkle, then we don’t know what is. Whether you observe Christmas or any other religious festival is irrelevant; we can all celebrate the month, and the coming of winter.
Short winter days are the perfect time to add fairy lights, cosy blankets, lamps etc: basically, anything that brings warmth and light to the darkest corners of our homes. Gill wrote about the Danish tradition of cosying up – Hygge – in a recent article over at PerfectlyOrganised if you’d like to check it out. Denmark is considered one of the happiest places to live, and it seems hygge plays a significant part in that.
Welcoming the Light
December is, of course, the start of winter, and it heralds our shortest day: the day we welcome the return of the light. It’s a day that’s been celebrated by some cultures for thousands of years, and it’s certainly a lovely way of re-thinking the dark days if we don’t usually enjoy them.
In ‘Wintering‘, by Katherine May, the author shows us a beautiful way to embrace the changing seasons through her own healing journey (we highly recommend this book, which is linked). We found these words on Katherine’s website.
In Wintering, Katherine May recounts her own year-long journey through winter, sparked by a sudden illness in her family that plunged her into a time of uncertainty and seclusion. When life felt at is most frozen, she managed to find strength and inspiration from the incredible wintering experiences of others as well as from the remarkable transformations that nature makes to survive the cold.
This beautiful, perspective-shifting memoir teaches us to draw from the healing powers of the natural world and to embrace the winters of our own lives.
Could there be a more fitting testament to the season of sparkle? ✨ We don’t think so.
Please let us know what you think in the comments – as always, we appreciate your feedback.
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