How to Ellavate Your Thanksgiving Week
YOU GUYS… it’s almost time for the best holiday ever. If you know anything about me, you know that my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I love it because it allows everyone to take a break from work and focus on what matters most, surrounding yourself with loved ones. It also makes people focus on gratitude. “When you focus on the good, the good gets better.” This is so true because if you focus on all of the negative aspects of your life you are always going to be sad and nothing will ever fulfill you. However, if we start to think of how grateful we are for every opportunity we are given, life seems to drastically improve. Even for the things we aren’t a fan of, there are ways to change your perspective into gratitude. For instance, going to school isn’t everyones favorite thing to do, but think of the people who are not fortunate enough to get the education you receive.
In this post I want to describe some of the ways I will be Ellavating my Thanksgiving week.
Spend time with friends and family: For some of us family or friends will be coming in town and it is so important to make time to hangout with them. We may find some of these people annoying and we wish they weren’t coming, but try to see if you can find something positive about the situation. Maybe it makes one of your parents really happy to have them, maybe it makes that person really happy to be there. If some of your loved ones are not coming and you wish they were, set up a Zoom call. It doesn’t have to be long, but it’s a great way to connect with family. Your loved ones don’t have to just be family, it could be friends or a significant other.
Spend time alone: Conversely, it is also important to make sure you are taking care of yourself and not sacrificing too much of what you want for what others want. Of course, life is all about compromise, but there can be a point of too much compromise. Also, know yourself. Know when you have had too much socialization and politely excuse yourself. Take care of you.
Relax: This is a hard one for me sometimes. It’s holiday vacation, it’s ok to be off of your normal schedule. It’s ok not to feel like working out or eating healthy or doing work. It’s ok to lack motivation. These statements hold true for anytime, but it especially hits me closer to the holidays. You work hard all the time, so give yourself a break. Watch TV, sleep in, take a bath, read a book, etc. You don’t need to be doing something productive all the time, and this is what I am still working on.
Release guilt: This can also be extremely difficult. If you didn’t workout, you’re not going to die. If you ate too much, guess what we all did. Anything you are feeling guilty about, breathe it out because we do not need this negativity during the holidays or during anytime.
Eat the dang food: Thanksgiving is not only about being grateful and being with loved ones, but also the FOOD!!! When I tell you I eat my body weight in food, I am not joking. I eat pretty much everything there is. Turkey, stuffing, salad, veggies, casseroles, sauces, dessert, EVERYTHING. Thanksgiving is so much better when you aren’t worried about being healthy or eating too much. I know that on Thanksgiving, I am not just eating for hunger, I am also eating because I am craving that food.
Move your body…or not: If you feel like it, do a workout. If you don’t, then don’t. Sometimes I love working out whether it be boxing, yoga, a walk, etc. Other times all I want to do is lay around. Both options are great, they both serve different purposes. If you don’t want to do a super intense workout, but still want to move around, I would recommend looking up dance cardio workouts on YouTube or going on a bike ride or a walk.
Put down your phone for a minute: This is your time to relax so trust me, I know we all are going to want to be on our phones and watch TV, but take some time out of each day to mindfully set your phone aside. Use this time to sit with your thoughts for a minute. In this day and age, we can never just sit with ourselves, we always have to be doing something so I encourage you to simply be with yourself.
Have a Friendsgiving: This is one of my favorite ways to make fall time fun. Grab a few of your friends and either have a potluck where you all bring food, or cook/bake together. For my Friendsgiving, my friends and I are getting together and we are making the food all day and then we will eat it for dinner. I love to cook so this is so much fun for me. Stay tuned for my Friendsgiving menu that I will be posting later this week.
Continue or make new traditions: Traditions are my favorite things during the holidays. Some of my families traditions are a run on Thanksgiving morning and a day called Pie Day where we make all the desserts for Thanksgiving the day before.
Make a Thanksgiving dish or dishes: If you like to cook/bake like I do, then making food for Thanksgiving is the perfect way to add a little excitement to your week. You could make a dish you always have on the table, or add something new into the mix. Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving recipes and how I would rate them.
Contribute to Thanksgiving in another way: On the other hand, if cooking is not for you, get creative and do something else. You could decorate a menu, make name tags, make the table look pretty, etc.
There are so many ways to Ellavate your Thanksgiving week, and these are just a few. I will have tons of recipes coming this week so get excited!!