If you’ve started to think about the upcoming holiday season and your plans for the next few months, traditions might play a part in the way that you do things. You may question whether you’re participating in an activity solely because you have done so for so many years in the past or if you truly enjoy it. If you’re working on establishing traditions in your life, you might wonder about what impact they can have on your mental health. Either way, traditions can provide us with many benefits for years to come.
Traditions keep us accountable
When we establish traditions, we typically choose to engage in them on a certain day or at a specific time of the year. Once one is established, it gives us something to rely on, to be accountable for, and to engage in on a regular basis from year-to-year. Every year, we can look forward to the ones we create, such as baking cookies or taking a drive to see holiday lights. The accountability that comes with our customs gives us the opportunity to stop, take a moment, and engage in an activity that is fun, sentimental, or relaxing–it’s an automatic pause from our hectic lives.
They strengthen our relationships
The traditions we share with others help us to form and strengthen connections each year as well, since we often engage in traditions with others. Committing each year to establish a custom that brings us together helps us to check-in with those we love and care for, and lets us reflect on past years of our traditions with others. Incorporating loved ones into our customs helps us form close bonds and meaningful relationships with others.
Traditions give us comfort
During especially difficult years, like the past few holiday seasons, traditions can bring us comfort, knowing that we carve out specific time and energy to engage in activities that bring us nostalgic feelings of better times. Traditions also help us frame our perspectives each year and remind us that better days are ahead, if things feel especially difficult. Pulling from our own experiences gives us concrete evidence that things will be bright again.
They can help us make and reflect on memories
Accountability for established customs also allows us consistent times to make memories while engaging in our favorite activities. It give us specific time set aside to enjoy ourselves, and memories that we establish from traditions grow as the years go on. Since the activity we engage in is always the same, it also helps us to compare different years of customs as a way to reflect on those experiences and the emotions we felt at the time.
If you have established customs in your life, embrace them fully this year! If this is your first year establishing them in your life, have fun with it, and choose activities that bring you joy at this time of year.
Learn more about the author, Sam Nolan, LPC here.