December Reflections: Finding Calm, Creativity, and Connection at Year’s End

December Is a Strange One

People are gradually slowing down — or winding up so they can collapse on Christmas Eve and call it for the winter break.

Families unravel over Christmas.
Drinking increases.
Domestic violence increases.

There’s pressure to buy the perfect gift — something that somehow surpasses last year in meaning or surprise — even though most people don’t need more things.

There’s food buying and menu planning, traditions to uphold or ignore completely.
There are candles and chaos.
There is summer or winter, heat or snow.

There’s grief for the families we don’t have, or we lost,  or maybe never had.
And gratitude for the ones we do have — whether biological or chosen.
There’s loneliness.
A strange ache behind the ribs that’s hard to name.

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I always feel a pull to reflect this time of year.
Who have I been?
What have I learnt?
Who have I loved?
Have I been true to myself?

Late December and January are the hardest for me.
Looking forward to a whole new year always makes me stop and ask:
How will I spend it? I feel a pressure that puts me into a spiral. Like the Christmas pressure,  but i have mine in January.

I don’t do ‘resolutions’. I do days.
How will I spend today?
What brings me joy today?
How can I take joy to someone else?

I’ve been known to spend the entirety of January writing a song a day — to keep myself busy. To keep my brain busy and focused.

The things that keep me grounded aren’t complicated.
They’re just the things I do regularly —
None of them are particularly special, but they add up to a day well spent.

Vocal warmups.
Working out.
Training my dogs.
Writing.
Playing music.
Showing up for the day. Coffee, laundry… simple stuff.
Doing the next right thing.

I guess I’ve had to live in ‘the process’ instead of fixating on the goal.
Patience is a big word.

There is no goal-kicking without showing up for the process.

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If you're feeling untethered this month, you're not alone. And if you're looking for a space to land creatively in January — for a lesson, a song, a conversation, or a reset — I'm here. Bookings are open. But no pressure. This is just a quiet invitation to come back to the day, the voice, the practice. One small step at a time. 

🕊
Lisa

https://lisarichardsmusic.com/