I adore holidays. I see them as the perfect opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, eat good food, and dress completely head-to-toe in one color (today I’ve got a green shirt, green sweater, and green scarf to celebrate the Irish! I’m also drinking green tea and have a huge salad full of a mixture of various fresh greens for lunch, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary so I guess I can’t really count that towards a part of my efforts to be festive ;)).

Any excuse to celebrate and go out partying is quite necessary. St. Patrick’s Day isn’t really much of a holiday, more a reason to drink beer, but Easter is right around the corner and it’s one that’s usually celebrated pretty extensively. So here’s to holidays!

I know an unfortunately large number of people who really strongly dislike holidays—either because they don’t have family to spend time with, or the amount of stress (and high-caloric food) is too much to handle, or the whole idea of the commercial holiday just disgusts them. But I think that holidays are great. Sure, they might just be incredibly commercialized and kind of pointless, but they’re fun. Why complain about the decorations and colors? I take full advantage of holidays in that way. It brightens my mood to feel festive, and these silly little holidays provide a break from everyday routines.

I can understand that the stress of cooking huge meals and dealing with family that might not get along so well would be something to dread. I’ve been fortunate in that my family for the most part gets along really well together, so that’s never been a problem. As for the large amounts of food… well, I say, enjoy yourself while listening to your body.

It’s probably not really necessary to down half a dozen green beers tonight, but there’s nothing wrong with unwinding with one or two (myself, I get too full after one or two beers to be able to drink any more. But maybe that’s a good thing!). As long as we pay attention to what we’re putting in our bodies and how much we’re putting into them, we can know when it’s necessary to slow down or stop.

The formula is simple enough—it’s applying it that is the tough part! But because it’s so tough, it becomes that much more of a victory when you recognize how happy your body is with you (for myself, that sense of success is present every time I go to the movies and resolutely do not order a big vat of popcorn :)).

Instead of feeling contempt for these (sometimes made-up) holidays, let’s relax and enjoy them. If nothing else, it’ll be a break from your busy life and it’ll rejuvenate you for getting back into all of that busy-ness.

Taking a day off, or taking a few moments to let yourself get excited over a holiday, can do wonders for your mental health. Yesterday, I spent the day shopping with my mum and sister and it was some excellent retail therapy and girl bonding time. Plus, I got some really sweet pink plaid heels out of it!

We did get ourselves some mini eggs in early celebration of Easter (I tried to avoid them by getting myself a small bar of dark chocolate… and then I finished that and the mini eggs were calling my name, so I allowed myself to indulge in a few. Delicious!), but I find that because I so rarely let myself have a treat like that, it tastes that much better when I do give in and have a little bit. And enjoying yourself and life is absolutely vital when you’re on a mission to live life in the most healthy way possible!

How do you celebrate the holidays? Do you look forward to them or do they fill you with a panic? Share in the comments section below!

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