This Christmas
None of my family = 
Being with my lovely lady this year 
Seeing family in Silverstar on Xmas eve =
Opening presents that had travelled 20′000km =
Making a weapon of a meal with Joni =
Snow shoeing on Xmas day =
Skiing on Boxing day =
… pretty good if you ask me!
The Sunday snowfall, one of the worst dumps in Metro Vancouver since Dec. 29, 1996 when 41 cm fell at the airport, delayed buses, buried cars in snowbanks, and slowed traffic to a crawl. Cities such as Vancouver and Burnaby have already overspent their budgets keeping the roads clear.
There is more to come. Another 15 cm is forecast for Metro Vancouver on Wednesday, and flurries are expected on Christmas Day. The last official white Christmas for Metro Vancouver was in 1998.
“This could turn out to be the whitest Christmas of all in Vancouver,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Mark Madryga…more from the Vancouver Sun
British Columbia is so far having a cold winter, but with below average snowfall everywhere but Vancouver – and the Vancouverites are completely stumped about how to handle it!
I’m sitting cosily inside at Joni’s parents place in Revelstoke with a fair bit of snow outside. Last night it was only -10c which is much better than the night before at 19 degrees below freezing.
So far it is the coldest winter I have experienced, but I seem to be dealing fine – not that I’ve really put myself outside much as Joni enjoys taking this time to do indoor things (as if anyone who’s grown up with this can blame her wanting to stay warm).
This year will be my first Christmas away from my family and it already feels very different. However, this time last year I would have given anything to be here with my lovely lady.
I’m off to Silverstar today to see my cousin and her boyfriend, so there’ll be a little bit of my family this Christmas! Yay!
My brother, Jamie, proposed to his girlfriend the other day and now they’re engaged! So that’s exciting! I’m looking forward to finding out when they plan on having the wedding so I can ensure I’m there for it
All said and done, I may be missing people (and the beach) but I’m really enjoying being out of my normal experiences and doing something else — living my life.
Just a quick note.
I struggle with stress. The problem is, it’s not my own stress that I struggle with, it’s other people’s.
You see, I handle my own situations quite well, yes I’m a bit OCD, but the situation that I don’t handle as well is dealing with other people’s stress.
There seems to be a vicious cycle. Firstly, I’ll do everything I possibly can to remove stress from them, then they’ll seclude themselves away so that they don’t feel guilty, then I’ll beat up on myself for it not working and then the whole process repeats.
I missed out on getting funding for Cambridge, so therefore I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the future recently – deciding what the next step is. However, little idiosyncrasies like this are staring me blatantly in the eye telling m that I need to deal with them before I’m ready for what the future holds.
I’d be a pretty hopeless employee, husband or father if I continued like this… I’d burn out.
Furthermore, I’m also a pretty tolerant person. But that only goes so far: as soon as my mind is set on something I find it really difficult to accept that someone close to me might not agree. In the early stages I am very open to the fact that I could be wrong and I often come around to their point of view if I am wrong. However, sometimes the more it is talked about, the more my perspective is solidified if it seems to be bound by logic. Because I know that the people I’m close to are not stupid, I try not to discuss those things at all because I am aware they have all the information and I would never want to be condescending.
Now I understand how my parents must sometimes feel: putting a lot of time and energy into people and then watching them make choices that you don’t want them to make. However, I don’t want to wait until I am a parent to learn the skill of letting go with a sense of peace, I want it sooner rather than later. Moreover, I want to get better at discussing the things I disagree about with people I care about and not come out feeling like I spoiled the mood.
Recently, I have become better at not just being a “people pleaser,” I have been making decisions and recognising that they do not need to please everyone. However, it is still a very difficult urge to squash.
I think it’s weird that when it comes down to it, I’m a bit of a recognition junkie. I like to feel appreciated and work a bit too hard for it.
The more I think about it, the more I understand that people have an innate need to feel desired – it is the cause behind a lot of things that we do. However, my questions remain: “I am normal? Is this good? How do I find balance?”
I’m lucky that I’ve got people that love and appreciate me, however I need to make sure that I never seek it out and that I let it be organic. Though it becomes hard when those quick fixes (like offering someone your seat or cleaning up) lose their effectiveness and become ancillary. Luke, I believe it is time for stage two…whatever that is.
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