1 December 2023

It’s the first of December and Christmas decorations are up, there wasn’t as much as I thought, I was able to carry the box of decorations on my own. We’ve been getting real trees the last couple years since there’s a nice market down the street that sells trees, it’s nice that we don’t have to store a tree year round. My Army buddies are excited to visit again for for Christmas, it’s what got me in the spirit to decorate. I haven’t gotten to the level of decorating the outside yet, I’m sure that will be a box onto itself someday. With only the inside decorated it can be hard to get motivated and feels more like a chore to do because it’s that time of the year, only to have the chore of clean up at the end of the month. It’s easier to do a task for someone else than for ourselves, turning that attention inward feels selfish, but outwardly it feels like helping. A lot of people begin to lack self care with this thinking and see it as a virtue when their life is falling apart, justified in their caring of others. It’s not selfish to be the best version of yourself possible and in that pursuit we serve others. No person is an island, we’re a connected web and the decisions we make, big and small, effect those around us. Walking around a decorated house leads to Christmas songs playing in my head, a sense of cheer which changes my interaction with everyone I encounter, that’s how despite only me seeing the decorations they have an effect on the outside world. People are quick to think because they can’t see a connection in the now, there might not be one, we must believe our actions matter.