![ARDL 216: Holiday Survival Guide: Family Dynamics]()
November 23, 2020
Join us as we discuss the hard topic of family dynamics in the holiday season. No matter if you're together in person or on Zoom, there's bound to be some family tension surrounding your holidays. So how do you survive--and thrive--when everyone doesn't share all the same opinions or emotions or preference for cranberry sauce??
One of our best tools for figuring out how to handle family dynamics is the Enneagram. Some of our favorite resources for using the Enneagram as a tool to understand people's motivations:
- The Art of Growth
- @enneagramandcoffee on Instagram (Sarah Jane Case)
- this article on flourishing during the holidays
Edit Your Life With Us
Name your absolutes for the holiday season and commit to walking away when the family dynamic might be too much.
Maybe your absolute is ...
- time together
- maintaining family ties
- one good meal
- opportunity to see extended family
- safe gathering
These don't have to be big, but they are the motivators you have for keeping the family dynamic from melting down if someone brings up the three Ps: politics, pandemic, pumpkin pie.
If you don't think pie is controversial, Lindsey invites you to her family Thanksgiving.
When in doubt, you can always play this.
We are thankful for our listeners!
Be sure to follow us on our socials @aroughdraftlife on Instagram and Facebook as we share our own Christmas traditions as well as how we're surviving the holiday family dynamics, scheduling, and gifting.
As always, find us @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter on Instagram or Facebook. Find out more about Lindsey’s and Kristi’s books on their websites, lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com.
If you enjoy A Rough Draft Life please share with a friend and/or leave a review.
November 16, 2020
Ah, gifts. They can be one of the most joyous and stressful part of the holidays.
Do you shop early like Kristi or last minute like Lindsey? (We suggest avoiding last minute to avoid a little stress.)
How do you decide who goes on the list? (Hint: Just say no works on this as well.)
Once you have that list, how do find a gift that fits the budget and the recipient? (Think a little bit outside the gift box.)
We discuss all things gift planning related as well as why books make the best gifts and our ongoing Most Annoying Christmas Song voting bracket on Instagram.
Come enjoy the fun!
![ARDL 214: Holiday Survival Guide: Schedules]()
November 9, 2020
There's no question your 2020 holiday schedule will look different than it normally does. Kristi and Lindsey discuss how you can use that to your advantage to make next year even better and how you can make this year awesome in the meantime.
Brought to you from our make-it-work basement offices where Lindsey is launching a new book. Magnolia Mistletoe is available everywhere in print and ebook November 10!
You can celebrate with us and fellow author, Elizabeth Musser, at the live launch party on Facebook.
Holiday schedules are tough. That's why we're here to help you PRIORITIZE, PLAN, and PONDER how you can keep from being a Schedule Scrooge. To keep us all from being Scrooges, be sure to follow us on Instagram for some fun stories next week!
Episode Highlights
PRIORITIZE
Decide what you most desire out of the holiday season. If relaxed meals are your priority, spread out the travel. If everyone on Thanksgiving is your priority, spread out your meal with dessert here, brunch here, etc. Forget everything that doesn't align with your priority.
PLAN
You need time to rest and maintain your routine. Keep in touch with normalcy by marking off days on your calendar. Protect your rest. If you can't do full days, find moments like meals or bed times or something like that.
PONDER
When the season is over, decide what you want to keep for next year. Put EVERYTHING on the table. You don't have to eat turkey. Kristi's family is okay with everything changing as long as her mom makes dressing.
Edit Your Life Challenge
Determine your priority and put it somewhere you can see it and remember it.
November 2, 2020
How do you find a way to give your thoughts and emotions a little rest? In these stressful, noisy times, how do you find little moments to escape? We discuss the power of books, drives, walks, and mental jaunts to our happy place (Kristi apparently doesn't have one).
Welcome guest Teresa Tysinger as we discuss the power of escaping.
October 26, 2020
Lindsey and Kristi wanted to share all the wonderful things they've been loving for the past few months. Books. Music. Food. Gadgets. Podcasts. Get a rundown of our current fave things and hear a two big new announcements.
October 19, 2020
Lindsey and Kristi have spent the past ten weeks looking at the Fruits of the Spirit, seeing how interdependent they are, and facing the struggles they have living them out in their own lives.
In this episode they recap what they learned, discuss what a litmus test is, and say the word "exactly" a lot.
There may even be t-shirts.
October 12, 2020
In many ways goodness is the outward manifestation of all the other fruits working inside your heart. But how do we help it along? How do we recognize it?
Let's talk about the last of our fruits of the Spirit, goodness.
October 5, 2020
We often think gentleness means being meek and mild. Kristi and Lindsey discuss why that's far from true as we look at past uses of the word and a different way of executing gentleness.
September 28, 2020
Rachel McMillan joins Lindsey and Kristi to discuss how our definitions of peace have changed during the pandemic, how we're learning to find it, and how Rachel's travel book that didn't do well and her WWII novel that's doing amazing have given her a new understanding of finding peace in knowing herself and God.
September 21, 2020
Faithfulness. It's something profoundly connected to God but much more difficult to see manifested in the fallible humans around us. How can we find faithfulness when it feels like there's none to be had? How do we ensure that we ourselves are working towards faithfulness?
How long will Kristi let Lindsey ramble?
All these answers and more in this week's episode.
