Releasing "The Rules" that Don't Serve

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Reclaiming our Sovereignty to Create Our Worlds

Yesterday, January 6th, was Little Christmas. 

Growing up (in honor of my father's Italian heritage), our Christmas decorations always stayed up through this day. Then my mother eagerly took them down.

I've followed this tradition until recently. Then something changed.

No, I don't take the decorations down sooner. I leave them up longer.

I'm never ready for Christmas to be over - well the Christmas season, anyway. 

Things often feel so hectic that I can't really relax and enjoy the season until after Christmas when my Christmas to-dos are done. (I'm working on this by the way, I hope to tell a different story next January.)

So, a few years back, I made a decision. I leave the Christmas decorations up all winter. 

I mean ALL winter. They now come down in March.

I really go all out with the decorating so a mere 4 weeks doesn't feel like enough time to enjoy it.

Plus, I live in Florida where winter isn't really a thing and the Christmas decorations help me create that cozy feeling I so miss from up North.

The lights come down off the roof line, but the front door wreath usually stays until it's replaced by a heart for Valentine's Day (my mother always said I should have been a kindergarten teacher given my devotion to decorating for all the holidays).

I decorate with a lot of indoor lights and candles and since it still gets dark early, I still want that light and flame.

The live Christmas tree usually comes down around MLK's Birthday. It gets replaced with a little artificial one that is decorated more for winter than Christmas. We call it my Christmas Tree patch (like a nicotine patch - I never want the tree to come down so the artificial one helps me through the withdrawal).

My partner gets a little embarrassed by this extended Christmas. 

We are definitely the last ones in the neighborhood to put away all things Christmas. We may very well be the last people in our city, our state, the USA - I'm not sure. I've never conducted the research.

Oh well. He's realized he's not gonna win this one. 

And who is it hurting? No one, absolutely no one.

And it brings me a joy I can't fully explain.

And yet for years I "made" myself take down the decorations before I was ready because that's what "The Rules" were.

The completely arbitrary rules, based on a completely arbitrary set of dates determined centuries ago by people who were just making a guess because they weren't actually at the event they were celebrating. 

Am I really going to let that arbitrariness have a say over what brings me joy?

I've been doing a lot of exploring of "The Rules" that have shaped my life. A "Good Girl" in recovery, I'm learning to question each and every one. 

Where did they come from? Who did they come from? Do they actually matter (I'm looking at you, "no white shoes after Labor Day")? Do they reflect what I actually believe, what I actually hold dear?

I'm asking what serves the life and the world I want right now, today. I'm finding things I'm willing to release and also things I continue to claim.

I am releasing "The Rules" as a thing in my life and choosing instead my code of honor, my guidelines, my sacred containers.

Sure, there are still societal rules I follow... I pay my taxes. I enter through the enter door. I exit through the exit door. I wear my seat belt. 

But I've realized that SO many of "The Rules" I've lived by are just old grooves worn by those who came before me trying to survive life in a reality of separation. 

Based on lack.

Based on fear. 

Based on a belief in "the enemy," on a lens of "the other."

Based on dissonance.

Yuck.

Creating a world is based on what is life-enhancing, life-generating, coherent. 

Creating a world is based on knowing what feeds us, what encourages us, what lights us up.

Creating a world happens when we align with the reality of Unity where everything has a place.

Creating a world happens when we reclaim our sovereignty as the authors of our own lives.

What rules are you ready to release that no longer (or never did) serve you? 

What guidelines, codes and sacred containers are you willing to prioritize instead?

What joy can you reclaim by making choices based on the callings of your heart?

As we cross into 2026 and start a new year, how can you create newly?