It's that time of year again. Events, celebrations, feasting, drinking, shopping and the inexplicable rush to have things finished up before Christmas and the end of the year.

That seems to just be the way of December.

And it should be fun, right? Eating, drinking and being merry should be fun. Buying and giving gifts should be fun. Taking a break over the holiday period should be fun.

Yet so often, by mid-December, I'm feeling more debacle than sparkle. I'm tired. I'm too busy. I'm dragging my body around from one thing to another, not really enjoying anything because it's too much, too wearying, not enough sleep and I'm not taking time to calm down and be peaceful. 

So what's the answer? Obviously whatever the answer is, it doesn't come naturally to me, as I feel like this every year.

But what I want is to get to Christmas day and really turn up. I want to be present. And I want that presence to be fully engaged, fully enjoying the fun that the day carries the potential of delivering.

I want to know that I'm turning up for the big family lunch, the kids getting excited over presents and the grown ups catching up, with all of who I am. I want to not feel exhausted and like I'd really rather be in bed. 

In short, I want to experience the fun, fully and easily.

Anyone relate?

The Double Whamy of Pain

If you're living with a chronic pain condition, then on top of the wearied exhaustion we're all feeling, you may also have pushed your body so much  you've induced greater pain than normal. 

This will, of course, not only lessen your ability to enjoy the day, but it also speaks to the need you have, above and beyond others, to take care of how you spend the weeks leading up to the big day.

This stuff is important for those of us with health issues that flare up under stress. We can't just push harder and say we'll sleep it off later, after Christmas. Bodies don't work like that. At least not our bodies.

If you fall into this category, you're in the right place. This is a whole website for people who live with chronic conditions and want to do more than just follow good medical advice. We want a wholistic approach to these conditions, one that recognises the emotion and mental play as important a role in our health as the physical. 

For us, Christmas often is endured as much as enjoyed, because of pain and illness flares. And if we're honest, we know that it'll be this way because we know if we push too hard, a flare will occur. And we know that in December, we'll push too hard. We just do it. It seems unavoidable.

So What Can We Do?

Well, today it's exactly two weeks till Christmas day. And I'm laying down a challenge to you all. Let's choose a couple of micro-actions (changes so small they're easy to make and easy to stick to) that will set us up to better enjoy Christmas day.

Here's my list: 

• meditate 5-10 minutes every day
• write in my journal 4 times a week
• if I don't have an event on, I'll be in bed by 9pm
• I'll do a daily energy clearing/vibration raising exercise

All of this feels do-able. It feels healthy and helpful for the moment, and over two weeks can make a difference to how I feel when I show up for the Christmas events.

So what will you commit to? 

I'l love to hear your commitments, and how it's going. Follow me on Instagram to keep up with how I'm doing with these micro actions and to let me know what you've committed to and how you're tracking.

And then we can all report back after Christmas about how we felt and what difference our challenge made to how we expericed the day.