196. Beyond Boxing Day

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Hello, darling heart, and welcome to this episode of the drink less, live better podcast.

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This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring.

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I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back.

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I'm here to support you with your alcohol free or drink less adventures.

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Follow me on Instagram at drink less, live better.

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Find resources on my website, drink less, live better.com, and buy my book, drink less, live better.

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It's available in all the places you might purchase a book and is the perfect read for your dry January.

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I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode. Let's get straight to it.

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Beyond Boxing Day, Are you listening to this in a post Christmas haze, possibly in a house with a lot of discarded wrapping paper and leftover turkey?

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Maybe you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.

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Time for a few evaluations because no time like right now, is there?

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If you're nursing a hangover, I am sorry to hear about that.

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This might be part of who you were and your Christmas identity up until now, but it can be different by next year.

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If you've overeaten or overspent and those were not your ambitions, I'm sorry to hear that too. Again, different next year.

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If you've been with people and have felt dismissed, undermined, or undervalued, again, I'm sorry to hear that. Can this be different next year? Yes. Yes. It can.

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How have the traditions gone down this year?

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Are you a buy an advent calendar or candle person, a visit the carol concert person, a pantomime person, a Christmas film

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person, all decorate the tree together household, a gingerbread making household family family, a Christmas Eve new pyjamas family.

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See the in laws on Christmas day and auntie Beth on boxing day, see the cousins for brunch and the I don't know what your

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thing is, but fill in the blank.

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I love a carol concert, but my family don't.

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If I catch them in the right moment, they'll watch a Christmas film with me.

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I don't really, moment, they'll watch a Christmas film with me.

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I don't really have what I would call traditions from my childhood, and there are different things now that suit us.

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Last year, we all went to London the week before Christmas.

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The boys wanted new trainers for their gifts, so we went together and chose them.

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We then had lunch, walked through some of our favourite areas of London, had hot chocolate, visited a particular shop they

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wanted to go to, saw all the twinkly twinkly twinkly lights, and had dinner.

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It was glorious and suited all 4 of us perfectly.

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On the way home, the boys said, can we do this again next year? We said, yes. Of course.

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So for as long as they want it to be, this will be our Christmas thing, our tradition, if you will.

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Also last year, I booked us a treat. 2023 had been a dozy of a year for me.

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Cancer, surgery twice, and radiotherapy all took its toll.

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So towards the end of the year, I booked us a few nights away in a log cabin between Christmas and New Year.

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It was wonderful. 4 of us, plus the dog, log burner, beautiful walks, games, books, easy food, bliss.

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The boys said, can we do this again? We said, yes.

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So for as long as we want it to be, this will also be our thing.

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If you're listening to this podcast episode on Boxing Day, we are away right now. Head over to Instagram. I might have posted some pics.

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Sometimes we keep doing things just because we've always done them.

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Use this time to reflect on which traditions or things truly bring joy and which ones feel more like obligations.

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It's okay to let go of traditions that no longer serve you or to start new ones that better fit your life right now.

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The quieter time between Christmas New Year is perfect for planning ahead and making next year's festive season smoother and more enjoyable for you.

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What would you like to be different?

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This year, when I got the decorations out of the attic in early December, I took more than half of them to the charity shop.

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I no longer loved putting them all up, and I love our tree more than any other decoration.

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So that is what I focused on this year.

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Confession time, and this one took me several years to get comfortable with.

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I no longer post very many Christmas cards.

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I have some I give to relatives and a few I give to very important friends, but that's it.

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I see people to wish them well over Christmas, and I love being able to spend the time together more than anything else.

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Reducing stress, where you can so you can totally enjoy the magic of the season.

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Winter is a great time for doing less, so embrace that opportunity wherever you can.

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When you're not scrambling to find sellotape at midnight on Christmas eve or worrying about how to pay for everything, you can focus on what really matters.

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Rest watching films, hanging out with people you like, eating well, getting fresh air, or whatever else it is you love. The year compass.

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I know I've mentioned it a lot this December, but head over to the show notes to check to check it out if you haven't already. I promise you'll thank me later.

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Thank you so much for listening in today, and, p s, I believe in you.