Love The Life You Actually Have.

Halloween is in nineteen days. Fall may be my favorite, but Halloween is by no means my favorite holiday. This year is different, though, because Jack is here. So you better believe I will be Halloweening to the fullest extent. 

This year is also different because Chris is in residency. So even though Halloween is less than three weeks away, he has no idea what his schedule will be that week, and if it’s a day he’ll have off or not. Probably not. 

He probably will also not have Thanksgiving off, or Christmas Eve, or Christmas. 

This is not to say, “Woe is me, my life is so hard!” This is to say, “My life is different right now.”

And here’s the thing: I freaking love my life. Sure, residency isn’t my favorite thing in the whole world, and there are sometimes more hard days than I would like, but overall, I am really so in love with my life. I’m in love with who I get to spend it with and where I get to spend it. And I think a big reason why my little holiday loving heart is able to be so in love with a life that sometimes has to skip over the holidays is because I know my life is different right now. 

A long time ago, before residency was on the horizon, my mom told me that holidays are whatever day you make them. That you can reschedule your holidays for whatever day works for you.

This year, I’ll be doing just that. Thanksgiving might not be on a Thursday. Christmas probably won’t be on the twenty-fifth. Sure, I’ll probably shed a few tears on the actual holidays. I’m sure I’ll be frustrated at the lack of flexibility with holiday plans more than once. But that doesn’t matter, because we will still have the best holiday season ever. Because this is our life, and we have each other. 

This life…the one you’ve been given, the one you’re living in…whether or not it’s the life you imagined, it’s the life that you actually have. There are some things you can change about your life, but some of life is just out of your control. Don’t waste the life you have being upset by circumstances. 

If you have to reschedule your holidays this year, do it! Who says Thanksgiving has to be at the end of November, anyway? If you have less money than you were expecting and Christmas presents don’t seem to be a possibility, hit up the dollar store and buy some silly things. If you aren’t able to travel to be with family on the holidays, FaceTime them and then plan the best day ever for yourself in your town. 

This, right here, is life. It’s your actual life. It may take a little bit of work, but it’s so important to learn to love it. It’s so, so worth it.