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K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Sweetie. This phrase came back to me this week. When I was first out of college, I worked in a psychiatric hospital as a Music Therapist and I often led groups on the Drug and Alcohol Rehab Units. I became familiar with the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program and many of the common phrases. This “Keep It Simple Sweetie” is a version of one of them.
The Thursday before Veterans’ Day this year I woke up and something I worried would happen for the last twenty years, finally happened. I was in pain in my left hip and I couldn’t walk – literally. You see my great grandmother was in a wheel chair by age fifty, my grandmother had back surgery and lived in pain for many years, and my mom, who I affectionately call the bionic woman, has had both hips replaced and has two rods in her back with 24 screws. My genetic lineage points towards a strong tendency for arthritis in the hips and the low back and sure enough an X-ray has confirmed, I too have arthritis in my hips.
I thought I was doing what I could to prevent this from happening and I probably did buy myself some time. I walked regularly, worked out, worked to keep my weight in a healthy range, and have been practicing yoga for the past 20 years. I may have delayed the arthritis flare up but now that it’s here I am beginning to learn to deal with it and keeping it simple has been one of the places I have started.
Over the last several weeks I have been able to get the pain back down into a much more manageable range with rest, medication, and physical therapy, but there are still days were it is painful and I find myself relying on a cane to walk around the house. It’s been a large lifestyle adjustment for me.
This past week I revisited the K.I.S.S. technique when it came to tackling holiday decorating. I’ll admit I was feeling overwhelmed and in a funk. A tree just wasn’t going to happen this year. Here is how I implemented the keep it simple technique:
1. Prioritize what’s important to you. During this holiday season, I’ve had to look at what traditions are important to me and worth the physical effort and which ones I can let go of or I may HAVE to let go of because I simply can’t do them this year. Let’s take decorating for the holidays for instance. What I like about having the Christmas tree up each year is the lights, not the whole tree with the ornaments, but the soft glow of the lights. I knew that putting up even just the tree and getting it back down to put away after the holidays would be too much for me this year but I still wanted the soft glow of the lights.
2. Get creative with your solutions. It dawned on me I could still have the glow of the tree lights without the tree. The solution – our outdoor projector light is now in our living room and I LOVE it! This may be my new holiday level of decorating and the kids don’t even seem to mind. Decorating only took a few minutes and the cleanup at the end of the season won’t take long either and I won’t spend a whole day in bed recuperating because I chose decorating over my health.
3. Ask for help. My third tip for keeping it simple is open your mouth and ask for help. For years my sister-n-law has been hosting Thanksgiving and I have been hosting Christmas. That is just the way we have been doing our holidays. This year our Thanksgiving was canceled due to COVID and we are not sure if we will all be able to get together yet or not for Christmas, but if we do, my sister-n-law has agreed to host. So that means there will be no house cleaning and cooking a huge meal for me. I will only need to bring a couple of sides over to her home. When she heard about my arthritis, she was more than happy to switch this year.
There you have it. My three steps for keeping it simple this holiday season. What have you found helpful to keep things simple during this time of year? Please share with us in the comments.
In peace and health my friends,
Susan
I’m a relationship coach who helps you prioritize yourself without guilt and worry and I have one on one coaching spots available.
What is a life coach?
Somebody who holds a compassionate, safe space for you to share your thoughts and feelings.
Somebody who provides you an extra pair of eyes on your brain, increasing your awareness of how it works.
Somebody who teaches you an alternate way of thinking when the ways you have been thinking in the past no longer serve you.
Somebody who believes you can get the outcomes you want in your life and will encourage you every step of the way.
Somebody who challenges you to dream bigger and step into the future version of you.
Somebody who will say things you won’t want to hear but will always say them with love and compassion.
This is an investment in yourself that you deserve.
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