Grace Over Guilt: Breaking the Cycle This Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday. And that's saying something because I adore all things Christmas. And I usually have all my ducks in a row for the season well in advance.

This year, finding a dog sitter fell through the cracks. It's a little complicated because sweet Bugsy can't be boarded. He was used as a fighting dog before we rescued him from animal control and though he has come a long way, free-willing with lots of other dogs just isn't in his bandwidth. My regular folks were all otherwise occupied by the time I remembered to handle this particular item of business last week.

Now ya'll know how I love my dog. And the fact that I had neglected his care for this, our favorite trip of the year, is something that would have sent me into a tail spin of guilt and self abuse in the past.

And . . .

Remember the excitement of the upcoming season as a child. The pure joy of planning your Halloween costume, hand turkeys and all the magic of Christmas?

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us traded that excitement for a clipboard. Every holiday became another list of things to manage, people to please, and details that couldn't fall through the cracks without us falling apart right along with them.

Old me would have made Bugsy's sitter situation mean something about me. That I'm failing. That I'm disorganized. That a good dog mom, a good planner, a good whatever-I-was-supposed-to-be would never have let this happen.

Here's what actually happened instead.

I noticed the slip. I felt the flash of old guilt show up right on cue. And then I did something different. I made a few calls, got creative, and found a solution that works for Bugsy and for us. No tailspin. No self-abuse. No making a scheduling hiccup into evidence of my worth.

That's cycle breaking too. It's not just the big, dramatic stuff. It's also the small moment when something goes a little sideways and you choose to problem-solve instead of spiral. You choose to stay a grounded about it instead of handing the moment over to that old, critical voice.

The magic of the season as a kid wasn't about everything being perfect. It was about being present for it. Costumes, hand turkeys, twinkle lights, all of it. We can't get that wide-eyed wonder back by managing harder. We get it back by loosening our grip on the idea that we have to be flawless to deserve to enjoy it.

Bugsy's got his person for Thanksgiving week. I've got my favorite holiday ahead of me. And one more small proof that I can mess up a detail and still be okay, still be good, still be worthy of the same grace I'd give anyone else.

So this season, when something slips through the cracks, and something will, I hope you'll notice the old guilt trying to climb in the driver's seat, and choose something different instead.

That's exactly the kind of work we dig into inside Cycle Breakers Reboot. If you're ready to stop letting small slip-ups spiral into self-punishment, and build the kind of grace and freedom that lets you actually enjoy your life, I'd love for you to join us. [Learn more and sign up here] and let's break some cycles together, one small moment at a time.

XOXO,

Cindy