If I’m being honest, there isn’t much to celebrate on the West Coast of Canada these days. The pandemic/endemic is here, restrictions are being implemented, and lockdowns are looming. I feel for everyone who is enthusiastically looking forward to social connections over the holidays and now finds themselves performing face palm and shrug emojis as we find new ways to adapt. In my opinion – which I acknowledge is very privileged in the grand scheme of things – there are ways to feel some joy resiliently and creatively through the holidays. Here are three ideas for celebrating the holiday season (because I agree with Adam Grant that we shouldn’t be recharging from burnout, but finding ways to be joyful).

Be energized

Energy is a hard thing to find these days. This said, it’s an important thing in which to invest (like, by sleeping lots, eating healthily, and exercising … maybe looking into renewables and/or reducers if that’s your thing). Being authentic – our true selves – is something that we can all do to invest in energy. When we show up to family feasts or awkward Zoom calls as human beings, not managers, networkers, or cousins, our authenticity becomes contagious. Such social chemistry helps everything from realizing the potential of small talk at work to having meaningful conversations with loved ones.

Inclusive communities – be they workplaces or families – are more likely to engender connection, care, and energy that makes work less work.

How will you bring your authentic self to an upcoming social experience?

Share (or overshare)

Holidays are filled with overindulgences. We eat gluttonously at Thanksgiving. We consume greedily at Christmas. We can also share generously. For example, my colleague and emerging best friend, Rob, shared his turkey roasting experience with me as an awesome holiday gift. While it might not sound like much, Rob wrote over 3,000 words of intricate, approaching-monomaniacal, caring detail to help me make the best possible Christmas Day turkey for my family. It ends with this hot tip about how to use turkey stock for future gravy: “use the turkey carcass to make a really high quality turkey stock for your next turkey! Forget turkey soup, it sucks, gravy is life. Use chicken stock if you want to make soup.”

During this time of highly-digital experiences and limited in-person social connection, I am delighted by and grateful for Rob’s effort to help my family have a wonderful first Christmas in our new community, even if we have to keep things small.

What is something you want to overshare with a friend, colleague, or family member that will help them celebrate?

…or just f*ck it?

To be perfectly genuine and oversharing my feelings, if you also feel like burning down the world and being sad about what we’re missing through these holidays then I think this is perfectly okay. For example, I will probably disappoint the Noom algorithm and eat a lot of midnight cheese because we shouldn’t run from indulgences. Seriously, be kind to yourself and others and be safe, too. If there are things in life that are not bringing us harmony then, in my opinion, there has never been a better time to let them go.

What’s something that you want destroy, let go, and/or in which you want to indulge that throws up some middle fingers to the state of the world?

Note: take care of yourselves and be reasonably safe; a little risk ain’t a bad thing.