how to fight scarcity during the holidays

Even with sleigh bells and twinkling lights, does this time of year feel a bit off to you too? The sun rises later and the nights are longer and keeping up with routines becomes a struggle. I crave sunlight and comfort foods and solitude. And my mood shifts a bit more unpredictably. I was reminded yesterday that as humans we must experience different states, different frequencies, and energy levels. Like nature, we are always changing, yet there is a cosmic math to the cycles we experience.

Winter is a tangible place of rest, and grief management. It is a time to settle into a soft and slow pace. A time to make the body a safe home for you to recover.

The problem for many of us is that we can feel that urge to move slow, but the world around us is still moving fast. Work expectations have not changed, our families expect more labor as the holidays roll in, bills still need to be paid and reality must still be met each morning.

Part of my work as a healer is to meet folks exactly where they are. And I am here to remind you that your journey towards healing, decolonizing, and authenticity is not separate from your life in this moment. I've learned from my work in community and my own healing and spiritual journey that the healing work really is in these tough moments of transition. And the work is happening within you, right now.

You, exactly as you are in this low energy, low vibrational place are right, and true. Your needs this time of year are different from your needs during the creative energy of spring or the abundant fertility of summer.

What would it look like for you to lean into some self-compassion with me for me a moment. To acknowledge that you are more than the productivity and expectations you've been beholden to all year. To sit for a moment quietly in your own sacred authority over your life, your time and your desires?

We have been raised in a scarcity culture, and nothing triggers scarcity quite like the holidays. Many of us this time year feel like we are not enough, and don't have enough to give (financially, physically and emotionally). But the secret of the day is…

You are not defined by what you do not have. You are living fully in the reality of all the abundance you have access to in this very moment.

Say it with me now…even though I am anxious about money, sad about loss and war, feel low in energy and am concerned about the future….I love and accept myself wholly and completely.

It's kind of wild isn't it. Maybe even seems a bit shallow, to focus on self-love in light of so much disruption and violence. But I offer this, not as a platitude bit as medicine.

We have not been taught to hold our grief tenderly. We have not been taught to welcome in our joy just as boldly. So on top of our natural reactions to the world around us, we also may feel shame. We may hear thoughts like, "What is wrong with me? I feel so off? I should be doing more right now." And unfortunately, shame is a consistent challenge for those of us learning to recover from the trauma of capitalism culture.

What might that look like to love and accept yourself wholly and completely?

What would it sound like? How would it shift the way you show up just today?

I have shifted my story from that of a licensed therapist to a coach focused on the bridge between community and mental health becuase I believe that we are experiencing a collective reckoning that requires a collective solution.

You are not alone. And you are worthy of so much love and care.

Just in case no one has told you today, YOU, AS YOU ARE, are a whole gift. Don't be afraid to celebrate that today. I'm going to celebrate myself with a little winter midday nap.

Yours in bliss,

Coach V💚