The other day, I woke up to my glaring alarm clock at 6am. Pure exhaustion was at its finest. I had to catch a train later that morning, yet, I hadn’t packed for my weekend trip. So, I grabbed my coffee, started to chug it down to wake myself up, and I still didn’t feel awake. However, through it all, I got up and I started to hustle and hustle double as much as I was just a month ago. COVID-19 shot down the holiday festivities for the most part in 2020, and in 2021 my exhaustion is greater than ever before. With all of this, I know that I am NOT alone. The holidays are exhausting and that is OKAY!
Since starting my full-time job, I have felt exhausted more than ever before. Working full time is extremely tiring, and it is the grind that never stops. So many days, I wake up and think “oh I want to do *insert activity here* and I’ll get to it over Winter Break”, but then realize that working full time does not usually provide the luxury of a three week break. Some jobs don’t even give Christmas Eve or even Christmas Day off – I feel VERY fortunate that I have both off and am able to take a few days off for myself. It’s hard to realize that the working world does not have the same luxuries as the college world in terms of Winter Break and breaks, but it is something that each of us must face in our lives. We MUST keep going, despite all of the lack of breaks that we may get.
A few weeks ago, my friend Shivani and I were talking about how we do not need to overbook ourselves during the holiday season. However, I have *most definitely* overbooked myself already. I am traveling every weekend before Christmas, traveling even during the week, going on a few late afternoon/evening excursions, attending evening events and even hosting my own Christmas Party, and traveling for New Years, too – ALL while working full time. Let alone, we cannot forget that every human needs 3 meals a day give or take, some time for physical activity, time to work on their potential side hustle, and take care of their potential pets/children along with getting approximately 8 hours of sleep each night, in order to be healthy. Not to mention, the holidays brings on gift shopping, gift cooking and baking, decorating for the holidays, gift wrapping, card sending, and much more. The holidays are crazy, and it’s easy to overbook ourselves, especially when the world feels like it is never-ending.
When I was in college, a friend and I were in her car before a fashion show for one of our finals. For the course, the fashion show was a part of our final exam. I recall while riding with her to go pick out outfits for modeling within that fashion show she said “finals feel like a 3 week period that we think is never-ending until it is”. Indeed, the holidays are the SAME exact way for adults. However, the break part usually isn’t 3 weeks to a month. We keep going, despite the fatigue and we learn something if not many things from it. We learn how to maintain ourselves on our own and not depend on anyone else. We gain independence, strength, and the dedication to our work and outside of work commitments. Adulting is TOUGH, but it is the pathway to the life that can provide for ourselves, our pets, and someday our partners and maybe even children.
Adulting sucks sometimes, but it can also be super rewarding. The holidays make adulting that much more tougher. Having to keep going, despite the stress, chaos, and overbooking outside of the work world isn’t easy. But, at the same time, each and every single one of us has one life to live. Even throughout the extreme fatigue that arises during the holiday season with it all, living our lives to the fullest and enjoying every single moment is important. We all have one life to live and it is what we make it, especially during this holiday season of overbooking, overcommitment, and most importantly togetherness.
XOXO – Katie <3