I really do love the holiday season.  I love spending time with family, warming up with hot chocolates topped with whipped cream, and basking in the joy that is winter.

However.

This holiday season, I just sense the feeling that I am falling behind in everything.  Granted, it is mostly in part to working two retail jobs throughout the holidays, but I wish I had the ability to catch up on a few things, such as:

• Crafting  I have been lucky to have the opportunity to knit scarves this winter for a few clients!  Knitting is a great stress relief for me, and I am happy to have something tangible out of the work I am doing.  However, the free time I have in my busy schedule has been filled with catching up on DVRed episodes of my favorite shows or trying to get a new book finished.  Thankfully, I was able to take a few last night to begin a new project and am working this morning to make more progress.
• Reading  Yes, I hit my goal of reading 50 books in 2012.  But, I haven’t had the drive to work on some of the reading I hoped to accomplish this fall and winter.  I have been reading The Happiness Project throughout 2012 and am hoping to write about my experience with my own life, BUT, I’ve just been so wrapped up with work I haven’t been able to relax.  I’ve also been meaning to read more of Grace and the Good Girl along with some of my friends, but I’m barely spending the time reading daily as I have wanted to.
• Correspondence  Living with my sister, I’m a bit secluded from all of my friends from high school, college, and grad school.  Sadly, people aren’t as close as down the hall or a bus ride away as they used to be.  I try to keep in touch via text message, phone calls, and e-mails, but sometimes sleep, work, and dinner are more important.  Thank goodness I was able to work on my holiday letter this evening and have caught up with great friends over the holiday break.
• Applying  The job application process is still not over.  But, I gave myself a mini-break for the past two weeks of December.  Keeping the paperwork in order, along with trying to work 50+ hours a week would be way too complicated.  But today, the application process begins in earnest once again.

   

  I know we all fall behind and are not always able to accomplish the ideals we put forth for ourselves.  But, in the end, it is important we are happy with ourselves and the other accomplishments, those unscheduled, unwritten ones, that we fulfill.  And sometimes, those are even more important to our well beings.