This season has a way of bringing old stories to the surface. What if this year could be different?

Rewrite Your Holiday Story

​The holiday season is practically an old-story activation machine.

​Things start surfacing before anything has even happened: memories of holidays that hurt, people who aren't there anymore, family roles you get pulled back into, expectations about how you're supposed to feel, comparisons with what everyone else's holiday seems to look like, and old things people said about you that you rejected intellectually but that still show up in your reactions.

Sometimes you don't believe the thing—or don't want to—and yet it left a mark. You're selfish. You're too sensitive. Nobody wants you around. You always ruin things. You're difficult. You should be over this by now. Then here comes the holiday season with its traditions, people, absences and memories, and suddenly an old sentence is sitting at the table again.
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