You guys… what a freaking year it’s been. From our wedding to my lung collapse and surgery to traveling in Italy… I have so much to be grateful for this year. It also means that this has been an overwhelmingly intense year. And an expensive one, at that. Sean and I are still giving each other smaller gifts this year, but I have had so many incredible #blessings this year… that I just didn’t feel the need to share a personal gift guide (except for texting Sean a link to this pretty Dutch oven). Instead, I wanted to share how I am embracing my own self-care this holiday season by prioritizing myself and giving myself some gifts.
To inspire you to do the same, I’m being totally transparent today and sharing the 4 gifts I’m giving myself this holiday season.
The 4 Gifts I’m Giving Myself for Christmas to Embrace Self-Care
Pottery Class
I am so freaking excited about this one. My friend Kelly and I are taking a beginner wheel course at our local community center starting in January. I have been wanting to do this for YEARS, especially because my background is in product design. I literally used to design plates, candle holders, cups, and more for a living… and I genuinely miss it.
With this gift to myself comes the opportunity to feel more creative in my offline life. So much of what I do lately is to fuel this blog and continue to build my personal brand online… and it’s been wearing on me. I think that the burden feels heavy because I’ve had so much personal stuff going on and I want to only ever be 100% transparent with each of you. So it’s hard to go through all of that and live it all online in a very public way. I hope this doesn’t feel like I’m complaining; I’m not. I’m genuinely very, very grateful for the opportunity to be an influencer (I still hate that word). I simply miss having a creative outlet. The blog was my outlet for so long… and now it’s my job!
Over a Week Off
On the same note, I have been struggling with feelings of burn out lately. I really, really need a vacation, but due to budget constraints, that won’t be happening for a while. That being said, I am committing to take some significant time off from December 23 through January 3. There will still be a few end-of-year blog posts here on the blog, but I have chosen not to go overboard. Instead, I’m going to share posts that I am really excited to share and that I think you’ll love… and just let the fluff go.
During that time off, I am hoping to spend time in my kitchen cooking and baking (something that’s been giving me a lot of joy lately), catching up with all the books I’ve checked out from the library lately, and sleeping as much as I want to. I’m so excited.
I will, of course, be posting on Instagram still and sharing our general goofiness of the holidays, but I won’t be posting much.
A Deep Clean
Now that our house is renovation-free for the first time in 4 years, it feels like I can finally do a proper deep clean in here! But instead of adding even more to my plate and do it myself, I am going to hire a cleaning person to come in and do it. It’s gonna be such a luxury to come into a sparkling clean, totally project-free home!
A Few No-Holds-Barred Thrifting Adventures
Thrifting is one of my favorite activities and lately it’s all I want to do. Probably because my good friend recently moved close to my home and also loves to thrift, so we can do it together. This holiday season, I treated myself to a few thrift shopping sprees. Not only do I score some amazing finds, but I also really enjoy myself during the hunt and rummaging. It’s really fun to me and that feels like the ultimate gift to myself.
So those are some of the bigger, more impactful gifts I am giving to myself this holiday season. I urge you to step back and evaluate what you can do for yourself to help stay centered, joyful, and (hopefully) relaxed this year. You definitely deserve it. Leave a comment and let me know what you’re giving yourself!
