How to Use Holidays for Self-Development: 10 Surprising Benefits

Going all out for holidays can be an excellent practice in self-development that breathes new life into your routine and your relationships. Although it can be tempting as we get older to look at holidays as a superfluous waste of time and money created by the candy companies, there’s no shame in deciding to run with the opportunities we’re given to reconnect with our inner child.

In the eyes of children, holidays are magical days where the normal rules don’t apply, where colors, sounds, and smells reign supreme, and where, most importantly, anything can happen.

I’m a huge believer that we create our own realities. A big part of personal development is intentionally deciding who we want be. We have the choice to put holidays on the back burner and refuse to participate in the made-up rituals that come with them. But we also have the choice to lean into the silliness and joy that can come from making a potentially ordinary day more special and memorable.

Here are a few surprising benefits that can come from going all out for the holidays. Whether it’s Easter, 4^th of July, Halloween, Hannukah, a birthday or New Years, there is plenty of opportunity to push old traditions and start new ones that make the day feel extra special to you and your loves ones.

1. Express your creativity

“Going all out” for the holidays can mean anything you want it to mean. It can include decorations, food, games, outings, crafts, and anything else your imagination can come up with.

Because there are no “rules” for how you choose to celebrate, you can push the limits of your creativity which is an important, though often under-valued, piece of self-development and self growth.

2. Make your loved ones feel special

If you’re anything like me, sometimes it feels like keeping all of your personal relationships strong is a challenge. Life gets busy and relationships fall through the cracks.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if there were a handful of built-in opportunities throughout the year to show our loved ones that they’re special and important? Holidays, if done correctly, can be this opportunity. There are birthdays, Mothers’, Fathers’, and Grandparents’ Day, not to mention dozens of other holidays with flexible traditions that can serve as a platform for showing love and gratitude to the people in our lives.

(Related: How to Easily Improve Communication in Your Relationships)

3. Create rituals and traditions

All rituals and traditions start somewhere. Sometimes they’re born out of cultural beliefs or religions, but sometimes they’re just a private ceremony shared within a family for no reason at all. Wouldn’t it be fun to incorporate things you like to do with your loved ones once a year? Going all out for the holidays can be an excellent way to create new rituals and traditions around things that bring you joy and wellbeing and that you’ll look forward to doing again next year.

4. Break up the monotony so the year doesn’t pass you by

Is it just me, or does every new year elicit the feeling of “wow, this year went by so quickly”? It’s way too easy to let weeks, months and years to pass us by without our realizing it. And when we lose track of time, we lose track of our growth and self-development.

It’s helpful to have memorable events scattered throughout the year that we can use as time markers when we look back think about the way that time is passing. Holidays are an easy way to break up the normal monotony of everyday life so that we can look back over the year with more context—not to mention, more positive memories.

5. Get people together

Whether you’re looking to enhance your connection to your immediate or extended family, your friends, your coworkers, or new acquaintances, going all out for any holiday provides and excellent excuse to get people together in a positive environment.

Most people won’t say no to something fun—even something you’ve made up on a holiday no one usually celebrates.

6. Learn new skills

What is self-development or self growth if not learning new things that make us feel closer to becoming the person we want to be? Any holiday can be an excuse to do some creative cooking, baking, crafting, event planning, and hosting—just to name a few skills. Sometimes the hardest part of learning a new skill is finding the time to do it. Why not let Valentine’s Day, MLK Day or Boxing Day be your motivation?

7. Eat unique foods

Every holiday has its own personality—partially thanks to its origins and partially because of what you make of it! Food can be an amazing way to honor old traditions, dive into diverse cultures, and express your own individuality. Why not use holidays as a personal development opportunity to adventurously try a variety of foods you woudn’t normally eat.

8. Learn about the origins of the holiday and your own family traditions

Sometimes a powerful part of self growth comes not from the current “you,” but from digging into your history. Where did your family come from? How did they become the people they are and pass on to you what they did? What’s your heritage and how did your ancestors think about each holiday? From where did a holiday originate and why? How can you relate to the story?

9. Reconnect with your inner child

Many self-development coaches these days will include connecting with your inner child as an important step on the journey. As children, we have far fewer concerns and expectations and we’re freer to express ourselves in our own natural way. It may be a fun and enlightening exercise to think about what you enjoyed as a child and incorporate some of those things into your new holiday traditions.

10.  Practice your boundaries and good habits

Las but not least, holidays provide an excellent opportunity to put the skills you’ve been working on with your self-development journey into practice. It’s not always easy to stick to boundaries or make the healthiest choices when faced with a good time.

Going all out for the holidays will allow you to put yourself into highly stimulating environments that are still within your control and in which you can practice making the best choices for yourself.

Happy Holidays!