Posts tagged holidays
Three tips for surviving the holidays
Three tips for surviving the holidays

Whether you’re spending the holidays with family, with friends, or with yourself this year, your celebrations probably won’t live up to the impossibly wholesome fireside gatherings that the media depicts as the norm. Well, the good news is that no matter how many pictures of glistening ham you see on Instagram, nobody else’s holiday is going to be perfect, either. So, we’ve come up with some tips for making the most out of your holidays, whatever they look like.

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Ashley Kirsnerholidays, holiday, Christmas, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Hanukkah, Chanukkah, Happy Chanukkah, boundaries, setting boundaries, how to set boundaries, how to have boundaries, how to have a healthy relationships, how to connect, family, how to be with family, self-care, mindful, mindfulness, mindful acceptance, mindfully accept, three tips for surviving the holidays, survive the holidays, how to survive the holidays, depression, sad, lonely, I feel lonely, feel lonely, Skip the Small Talk, Skip the Small Talk blogpost, Skip the Small Talk blog, Skip the Small Talk blog post, missed my flight, anxiety, Maslow's hierarchy, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Maslow, boundary, set boundary, how to connect with family, visiting family, without going crazy, party, holiday party, holiday party ideas, Christmas party, Christmas party ideas, Hanukkah party, Hanukkah party ideas, hosting a party, host a party, how to host a partyComment
Do you know how to "be yourself?" The question that will help you be authentic even when the stakes are high
Do you know how to "be yourself?" The question that will help you be authentic even when the stakes are high

“Just be yourself!”
“Don’t worry about what other people think of you!”
“Dance like nobody’s watching!”
“To thine own self be true.”


We consume these truisms from the moment our infant brains can understand them and we don’t stop until we’ve seen one too many cliché-littered Pinterest boards. But the reality is, if you’re flailing your limbs on the dance floor without a single thought of who’s watching, or who’s within arm’s reach, you might accidentally smack someone in the face. How do you dance like you’re aware that people are watching, but you know that you’re dancing for yourself, and not for them? How can you think about the space you're taking up on the dance floor without having it affect your self-expression? How soon until we're done with this metaphor? It's important to "be true to yourself," but if you’re not thinking about how others respond to your behavior, you might be missing out on opportunities to connect, and you may even hurt others or yourself in the process.
 

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Ashley KirsnerSkip the Small Talk blog post, Skip the Small Talk blogpost, Skip the Small Talk blog, Skip the Small Talk, skip the small talk, no small talk, be yourself, just be yourself, don't worry, dance like nobody's watching, dance like nobody is watching, to thine own self, to thine own self be true, oversharing, tmi, identity, holidays, Christmas, in-laws, how to talk to in-laws, authenticity, authentic, genuine, genuineness, relationships, relationship, relationship advice, blogs
Five Thanksgiving icebreakers that don't suck
Five Thanksgiving icebreakers that don't suck

Ah, the holidays: A time when we hope our lives will look like those wholesome cartoon specials we watched as children, but also a time when anxieties about getting stuck in conversation with people who hold different political and moral ideologies might keep you from doing that happy dance from A Charlie Brown Christmas.


This Thanksgiving, we encourage you to take some time to connect with others in ways that feel authentic without feeling emotionally exhausting. To help the conversation flow, we offer you some ice-breakers that will get others to share about themselves while subtly nudging everyone’s mood in a positive direction. So if you do end up having the “here’s why racism is bad” conversation with Uncle Joe, you’ll have a buffer of positive experience--and perhaps some common ground--that’ll make it easier for you to communicate with one another.
 

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Ashley KirsnerThanksgiving, icebreaker, icebreakers, icebreaker questions, icebreaker question, gratitude, mood, good mood, positive, Thanksgiving icebreakers, questions to ask at Thanksgiving, how are you, how are you really, grateful, meaningful conversations, talk big, big talk, Skip the Small Talk, skip the small talk, no small talk, no small talk questions, how to skip the small talk, how to have conversations, conversation, conversations, meaningful conversation, deep conversation, deep conversations, family, how to talk to family, how to talk to people, how to get to know someone, how to meet people, communication, communication skills, healthy communication, self-disclosure, Christmas, holidays, Hanukkah, ChanukkahComment