{"id":1678,"date":"2018-11-19T05:06:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T12:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/?p=1678"},"modified":"2024-04-22T02:46:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T02:46:13","slug":"what-i-want-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/2018\/11\/19\/what-i-want-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"What I want for the holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/animal-animal-photography-cute-97541-cropped.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1679\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/animal-animal-photography-cute-97541-cropped-1024x579.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"629\" height=\"356\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As families plan to get together for Thanksgiving and remember the things they are thankful for, they also make plans for Christmas, which is a time to share memories, make new ones, and reflect on the year gone by.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I do not celebrate Christmas or participate in any celebrations. There are, however, a few things I want this holiday season.<\/p>\n<p>I would like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A day of rest and relief from the pressure I put on myself to be perfect every day<\/li>\n<li>To know that, whatever I do, I am enough<\/li>\n<li>For acceptance from others even if they can&#8217;t understand the struggles I face<\/li>\n<li>A day of rest, not just a day off work, but a day with no anxiety, no churning of memories and nightmares, no responsibilities, no interruptions<\/li>\n<li>A hug<\/li>\n<li>To not be asked what I&#8217;m doing for the holiday season. I will be with Paul at home as usual<\/li>\n<li>To not hear people sigh when I say we will be alone. We like it that way<\/li>\n<li>To finish the list of stories I have started before I pull anymore out of my head<\/li>\n<li>To quiet the inner conversations for just a little while<\/li>\n<li>To not worry about whether I can meet deadline, if I said something stupid, or what others think of me<\/li>\n<li>To write more<\/li>\n<li>For others to know I have trouble making immediate responses and to be patient while I formulate answers<\/li>\n<li>For others to know that sometimes, it takes a long period of time to process information and I cannot make immediate decisions or give prompt answers<\/li>\n<li>Understanding and knowledge<\/li>\n<li>The time to travel and learn<\/li>\n<li>To have one day where my brain doesn&#8217;t remind me of what I did wrong today, yesterday, or five years ago<\/li>\n<li>To know it will all be worth it in the end<\/li>\n<li>For people to understand that any mental illness is not a choice<\/li>\n<li>To end all stigma surrounding mental illness<\/li>\n<li>To be believed<\/li>\n<li>To not be judged<\/li>\n<li>For others to understand that I don&#8217;t always understand why I do the things I do. It isn&#8217;t always immediately apparent<\/li>\n<li>To not be patronized or looked down upon<\/li>\n<li>To not be told everything will be okay<\/li>\n<li>For others to know that trauma takes a long time to heal and there will be glitches along the way<\/li>\n<li>To not be interrupted when I am trying to speak<\/li>\n<li>For people to be kinder to one another<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope all that isn&#8217;t too much to ask for. However, if you would like to oblige, I would also like french fries and chocolate cake. Better yet, a chocolate cake that looks like french fries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As families plan to get together for Thanksgiving and remember the things they are thankful for, they also make plans for Christmas, which is a time to share memories, make new ones, and reflect on the year gone by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[191,238,254],"class_list":["post-1678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ramblings","tag-introvert","tag-mental-health","tag-nebraska"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3794,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}