Take A Trip This Christmas And Leave Your Worries Behind

Go somewhere this Christmas. Where hardly matters, as long as you can settle into the ride and do nothing but enjoy it. That is my plan for tomorrow. I am going on a Christmas shopping outing, and the best part is that someone else is behind the wheel. No wrestling myself in and out of the car, no circling a lot hunting for a space. We will stop for dinner and drive around to look at the lights. My whole bill for the day comes down to a small fare for the ride and whatever I feel like spending on my meal.

There is nothing specific I need to buy. I will be glad just to be out, whatever stores we end up at. The day is not mine to steer, and that suits me fine. As long as I don't go in expecting anything beyond what I've described, there is no room for drama.

The bills and the household worries stay home. I have a saying around the house: whatever gets kept, I keep. The chores I don't finish before I walk out the door will still be sitting there when I get back, so there's no sense dragging them along with me. I would rather empty my head and make space for whatever the day hands me.

I'm not going to fret about making friends. I only want to get along with the other people on the bus. I won't be rude. I don't care which seat I land in, and I'm not going to scrap over the window. I won't appoint myself leader of the group and order everyone to sing the carols I happen to like.

So I plan to loosen my grip. Whatever the day turns out to be, even if it falls short of some blissful high, I will take it as it comes. Getting to go at all is plenty. Getting to set my cares down for a while is plenty too.

Your version of a trip may look nothing like mine. Take one anyway. Let go and do something without loading it up with expectations about how it should turn out. Cut yourself some slack. Leave behind as many of your responsibilities as you possibly can. They will still be there to pick back up once the trip is over.

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