How to Keep Adultitis from Ruining Your Holidays

Well, we’re here. Even though Christmas music has been playing in stores since Halloween, the passing of Thanksgiving officially puts us into the holiday season, ready or not. (How is it that companies can promote week-long Black “Friday” deals with a straight face?)

I have a secret to share with you. Every bit of advice I give, or moral behind a story I tell, is mostly for me. They help keep me accountable and on track in my own fight against Adultitis. And as a professional reminder-er, I’d like to take this time to share some reminders, for all of us. I, for one, am in need of this particular reminder every year around this time.

You may or may not be surprised to know that this is one of Adultitis’ favorite times of year (right up there with April 15th, aka Tax Day). Of course, the reason has nothing to do with holly jolly elves or goodwill toward men. No, it thrives on the frenzy we find ourselves in. It uses the busyness and obligations to stress us out, wear us down, and most importantly, distract us from the things that really matter.

Yes, for many of us, there are trees to trim, decorations to put up, gifts to purchase, cards to send, office parties to attend, cookies to bake, crowds to navigate, presents to wrap, miles to be traversed, groceries to buy, meals to prepare, snow to shovel, rooms to clean, in-laws to suffer, and to-do lists to be tackled.

It’s prime feeding ground for Adultitis. It may seem impossible to avoid it.

But not if you remember that there are also memories to be made, cookies to be eaten, jokes to tell, ho ho ho’s to be hollered, bells to jingle, carols to be crooned, laughs to be shared, cardboard boxes to be transformed into castles, and (depending on where you live) snowflakes to catch on your tongue.

Spending at least as much time on the second list as you do on the first is the equivalent to rewarding Adultitis with a stocking filled with coal.

Ho, ho, ho.