Holidays Looking Different This Year
The holidays used to feel big. Loud. Full.
Now they feel a little quieter… and if I’m honest, a little heavier too.
There’s this strange pressure to pretend everything is the same as it used to be — the same energy, the same traditions, the same excitement. But when you’re navigating cancer, the holidays shift. Your body shifts. Your capacity shifts. Your finances shift. Your heart shifts.
You start measuring the season differently.
Not by presents or plans, but by moments you can handle and moments you don’t want to miss.
Everything becomes intentional:
• Which gatherings you have the energy for
• Which traditions feel comforting, not overwhelming
• Which memories matter more than the money it takes to create them
And then there’s the guilt — because no one talks about the guilt.
Guilt for not being able to show up the same way.
Guilt for needing rest instead of running around.
Guilt for watching your bank account shrink while your medical bills grow.
Guilt for wanting the season to feel magical even when life feels anything but.
But here’s the truth I’m learning:
The holidays are allowed to look different.
You are allowed to look different in them.
Different doesn’t mean less.
Different doesn’t mean worse.
Different just… means honest.
And maybe that honesty makes room for a new kind of tenderness — a softer version of the holidays where joy is smaller, but somehow deeper. Where the people who truly love you adjust with you, not around you. Where “making the most of it” doesn’t mean forcing yourself to sparkle… it means letting yourself be real.
🐾 Mojo’s POV
“Mom keeps saying the holidays are smaller this year, but I’m pretty sure the amount of food I plan to steal remains exactly the same. Also, if she needs extra snuggles or a reason to stay home instead of overdoing it — hi, it’s me. I volunteer.” – Mojo
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Even in the hardest seasons, this community is my favorite part of the holidays.
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