4 Important Life Reminders for This Holiday Season
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The holiday seasons can be tough for money of us – we might feel a lot of pressure or a lot of loneliness. But isn’t the holiday season to be a time where we feel full of love and joy? I believe it is and that’s why in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I have a few reminders I think you need to hear.
What I discussed:
Don’t feel pressure from social media to do things that you don’t actually want to do. The holidays is about creating real memories, not just taking photos for more likes on Instagram.
Don’t feel the pressure from social media to spend more money than you need to. You don’t need to have a pinterest-worthy holiday. You can have a super special holiday without going way over your budget.
If you feel lonely, immerse yourself into a community.
Reach out to those who need you. Spread the love and joy of the holiday season.
If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
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If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey. Hey, beautiful human. Can I steal 5 minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Rail with me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace a real. Let's get it. Let's go.
Hello and welcome to another bonus episode for Important Life Reminders this holiday season. This holiday season can bring out a lot of emotions for people. I think either people feel love and joy and happiness and excitement, but then it can also bring out a lot of emotions of like grief and loneliness and sadness and frustration and a lot of like keeping up with the Joneses. And so I wanted to share a few reminders that I think you might need to hear in today's bonus episode, so be sure to tune in. This is going to be a good one full of like a good life talk with a sister.
Before I dove in, I want to share this review. It comes from Fertility Girl, she said. The number one inspiring podcast. I'm so thankful I came across this podcast. It has brought so much joy and inspiration into my life every day and has allowed me to love myself and my body. Thank you, Julie. Also your workout clips on Pinterest are amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you, fertility girl. I'm so grateful that not only the workout clips on Pinterest are helping you, but the podcast is helping you and it's helping you love yourself and your body. That is my hope and prayer for this podcast. I am so incredibly thankful to hear that. Let's dove in.
Number one, it is okay if your holiday is not filled with all the holiday festivities. Don't just do things for how it makes your life look on the outside, do things for how it makes you feel. For example, if you think that you need to get the perfect cutting down the Christmas tree, and so you're forcing yourself and you're forcing your family to go do it just for the photo. Rethink that during the holidays. I really want you to think about things that bring you joy. And I want you to put your phone down and I want you to live in the moment. I'm talking to you just as much as I'm talking to myself. Focus on the memories, not just, you know, the moment. To capture a photo, to get more likes on Instagram, I want you to find things that are meaningful. And I don't want you to feel pressure from social media to do things that you actually don't want to do.
The holidays are about creating real memories, and oftentimes those memories that are the realest, that mean the most, you are not captured on your phone. Remember this everything truly does look better on social media. Social media is not real. I hate to say it to you. I know we hear it all the time, but you got to hear it again. Someone could literally be cutting down a Christmas tree and looking like they're having the time of their lives and piece together. That's really a static looking Instagram reel of them going and getting hot cider and then going to cut this Christmas tree down. But you have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. It could be miserably cold. They could have actually struggled to find a tree. They could have gotten a fight in a fight with their spouse or their kids would be crying like you have no idea what is going on. On the other side of that camera, all you're seeing is that highlight reel and then you're comparing that highlight reel with your with your behind the scenes and you're not feeling like enough. I'm telling you, put the phone down and just focus on being present and creating fun memories that you actually want to do this holiday season.
Number two, you can have an amazing holiday without spending a lot of money. I hate to break it to you, but I don't want you to feel pressure of spending more money than you have or than you budget. I know for me this can be hard because you are balancing different families, different expectations. But I'm telling you, things do not need to be Pinterest worthy. I think sometimes we log in and we see, you know, these massive Christmases with tons and tons of presents under the tree and you're just like, dang. And so you want to make that for your family or you want to get all these presents for these people. And I'm telling you, most of the presents that I've gotten over the years that I actually remember were number one and two. That mean the most to me are things that are so simple.
There a photo that was taken that actually took time to get they took time to either make the frame or get it framed so that I can put it in my house. They're things that I've made with my hands or they've made with their hands. Like those are the presents that truly mean the most. And I'm telling you, the people that I respect most in my life are the people that have a budget and stick to it. I know it's not sexy, but it's something that I admire and look up to so much because at the end of the day, when you are laying on your deathbed, what are you going to remember? The massive amounts of presents that you got or that you gave or that really intentional, thoughtful presents that you you gave this year? I don't know. I know that this can be a hard kind of topic for people, but I'm just telling you that you can create a beautiful holiday for you and your family while keeping in mind and being super diligent about your budget. Spending more money does not equate to loving someone more. Just remember that and I believe that you can celebrate the holidays with your family without having it break the bank, get creative, bake in, decorate cookies, snuggle up, watch Christmas movies, go look at Christmas lights, listen to Christmas music while cooking dinner. Really, there are so many ways to get into the spirit of Christmas without having to spend a ton of money.
Number three, if you are feeling lonely. Yourself into a community. Maybe you're feeling depressed. Maybe you're feeling frustrated, you're feeling grief. You're you can't spend time with your family or you're going through a breakup or you're just feeling super lonely. I know that the season itself can magnify these feelings of sadness. If this is you. I want to challenge you to seek community and hear me out. Because I know if this is you and you're sitting in that grief, you're sitting in that loneliness or that sadness, the thing that sounds the most daunting or the furthest from your mind as seeking a community, you just kind of want to crawl up on your couch with, like, a fuzzy blanket and not move. But I'm telling you that we were created for community, and sometimes in those moments that you are feeling so sad or you're feeling so depressed, having someone just listen to you or hear you or see you or pray for you means the absolute world. And I know for me in the times that I did not want to do something, like where I was like actively. No, 100% no. But I decided to do it anyway. Those have been the most rewarding things in my life, and we were created for community. And I want you to force yourself to reach out to friends or to join a small group at church or to volunteer. Call your family. Reconcile relationships that maybe need to be reconciling sometimes during these times that we want to be alone the most, that's actually not what we need the most. What we need is to be around community. If you're unsure about how to find a community, I'm just going to call it as it is. The easiest way to find a community as a church family is to join a church because you will have people that love on you. You will have people that will listen to you. You have people that pray for you. There's always amazing things going on at churches, especially around the holidays, whether it's like a dinner or a night out. Like they always have something and it's awesome to feel seen by a community. And I know again that it might be the furthest from what you want to do, but sometimes doing the one thing that you don't want to do can actually result in being one of the most rewarding things you could have done for yourself.
And number four, reach out to those who need you. On the flip side, you might be the happiest you've ever been. Right now, you may be surrounded by family and friends, and your heart is bursting from joy. If this is you, I want you to not forget about the people that might not have that in their life. If you know someone that's going through a hard time, even if they aren't your closest friend, keep an open door for them. Invite them over to celebrate something, check in on them. Make them know that they have a place throughout the holiday season. As cheesy as it might sound, the holidays are a time to spread love and joy. So I want to remind you to include those who need a place. Just include them in whether that's, you know, a Christmas dinner or it's going out Christmas shopping or going out to look at Christmas lights, like whatever it is. There's so many amazing things that we can do around the holidays. And I want you to be sure to make those who aren't being surrounded by people that they love feel the love that they deserve. Because at the end of the day, what is Christmas, Christmas all about? It's about celebrating Jesus's birth. And what would he do? He would make sure that everyone is included and feels love. Even if that person doesn't feel deserving of that love. You just keep loving them. You just keep inviting them. You just keep reminding them that you have an open door. So there you have it.
Those are the four reminders for this holiday season. Number one, don't feel pressure from social media to do things you don't actually want to do. The holidays is about creating real memories, not just taking photos for more likes on Instagram. Number two do not feel the pressure from social media to spend more money than you have allocated in your budget. You do not need to have a Pinterest worthy holiday. You can have a super special holiday without going way over your budget. Number three If you feel lonely. Force yourself to be immersed into a community that will make you feel seen and loved. And number four, reach out to those who need you. Spread the joy of Jesus love during this holiday season. If you love this episode, I have one ask of you. If you could leave a review over on Apple Podcasts, that would mean the absolute world to me. I worked so hard to bring you two episodes each week and leaving a review can really help me reach more women and have more impact on people's lives, which is ultimately what my hope and prayer is. So I have to do is type in Apple Podcasts. It's the purple app. On any Apple device you can type in, embrace your real first, make sure you subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And once you're on that page, you can scroll all the way down and liberating interview. Whether it's a specific episode that really meant a lot to you or spoke to you, or just in general how this podcast has helped you. I would love to hear it. Our team would love to hear it. So thank you in advance for doing that. That truly does mean the world to me. That is all that I have for today's bonus episode. I hope that this gave you some food for thought. I hope that this gave you some encouragement. I am cheering for you. I'm rooting for you. I love you so much and I'll talk to you in. That's all right, sister.
That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, @juliealedbetter. Yes, it's within in the middle for that daily posts about real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember, that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace the real because you're worth it.