Christmas can be tough. At the best of times, Christmas can be a challenging time for many people. You may not be able to afford the presents your children would like. You may have lost a family member this year. You may have dealt with a break up. You may have just learned that Santa is not real immune to the Coronavirus.
It can also be a very special time. For seeing friends. For putting your feet up. For prayer and religious worship. For visiting the graveyard. For complaining on social media about consumerism...
Regardless of what Christmas is normally like for you, this year is likely to be a little different. For us fitness people, Christmas has a couple of unique first world problems. We just want to train, eat well, make progress, and so on. I get that, for sure. But, don't make your Christmas period harder than it needs to be.
If you love training on Christmas day, train. But, if you feel the need to train to justify the Christmas dinner, why not proactively take a diet break this week. A diet break needn't be a week of binge eating, but rather a week of taking the foot off the gas and allowing yourself to indulge a little, both in food, and socially. Trust me, it feels good. It feels good to not care that your weight is up on the 26th. It just doesn't matter in the grand scheme
of things.
You are probably sick to death of fitness people preaching about Christmas tips to stay on track, so I won't add more to that. You know what to do; enjoy what you enjoy, but don't make it a competition to see how much you can scoff down before the New Year. You know that. I know you do.
My advice for enjoying this time of year is more pragmatic and generalisable (while considering public health guidelines, of course, lol):
- Say yes to more gravy.
- Say yes to dessert.
- Say yes to a pint of Murphy's / IPA / Espresso Martini with your friends (my three favourite drinks...).
- Say yes to a walk with the friend you haven't seen for a while.
- Say yes to Christmas movies (I'm not a fan personally, but most of you probably are).
- Oh, and say no to Christmas pudding because it's rotten.
And one more thing to add to that list. Say yes to the things you enjoy. Personally, chilling out watching movies and eating junk does nothing for me. I like reading, doing a bit of work, and exercising. I also like great grub and the odd pint. And so, my Christmas will feature a nice balance of those two elements.
Finally, if you are in a rough place, now is the time to reach out to someone. There is no reward for bottling up the fact that you have had a rough year, or that you feel alone, that you are struggling to enjoy anything, and so on. That includes you tough guys out there; the best masculine relationships are those in which you can discuss things with your friends. There is a reason we call each other "brother" (or maybe that's just me). Similarly, if you think
someone might be having a rough time, reach out to them. Ask people how their year has been, and listen to the answer. We are on the path together, and you'd be surprised how good it can feel to know that people have your back.
To you and your family: I sincerely hope you have a lovely Christmas!
- Gary
