Those One-Idea Days

So I hear we’re supposed to live every day like it was Christmas.  Sometimes that seems like a good idea.  Other times – the tense times, the sick times, the frustrating times – it seems like a nightmare.  At times like this, one Christmas is more than enough.

Then again, maybe one Christmas isn’t enough.  Here’s the problem – too often we pin all our hopes and dreams on one day (this might apply the same to a wedding, graduation, a visit with someone…).  We have one Christmas dinner, one chance to go carolling, one visit with the kids, one – well, whatever special tradition you may have.  Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you know exactly what I’m talking about – those occasions that are so important you just have to be healthy for them!

Frankly, those occasions have got to go.

French philosopher Émile Chartier once said,"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have."  I think his words apply.

I must be a realist – single ideas scare me.  If they don’t work, that’s it – I’m trapped.

What’s your one idea this holiday season?  Ask yourself, is there anything that I’m pinning all my hopes on?   Will I sink into despair if such-and-such doesn’t happen, if I don’t go there, if I don’t see them?  The pressure is enough to make one sick.

No matter how hard we plan, no matter how careful we are, many of us know deep down that it may not happen.  That migraine attack might hit, that headache, or whatever it is that yanks us out of circulation.  Let’s start with that cold fact and move on.

This holiday season, let’s resist the urge to want everything to be perfect, and especially to want a certain time to be perfect.  Instead, let’s plan for a few.  Let’s accept the fact that some will work, some will not.  Let’s enjoy the next few weeks moment by moment.

Why does there have to be one huge special meal?  Couldn’t there be two meals to look forward to – meals that are a little simpler, a little less work?

You see, I’m not necessarily suggesting you add more to your schedule – I’m just suggesting you spread it out a little.

Why not take only 15 minutes today to enjoy some music?  Why not plan to call a friend sometime this week that you haven’t seen for a couple of years?  Why not enjoy some special, surprise moments as they come along?

I realize we’re not going to be able to avoid all those one-idea times.  But maybe if we rebel, just a little, against the one-day mentality, and demand more special times as we go along, it may just make a more joyful season.  It might take off just a little of the pressure.  And no matter when we’re sick or well, we may find there are some memories worth having.

This post is part of the Headache and Migraine Disease Blog Carnival, hosted by Somebody Heal Me.