3 Ways To Stay True to You During the Holidays
Because the holidays were never meant to break your spirit.
They were meant to bring you back home to it.
The Holiday Dilemma: Stress or Joy?
So many women say they love the holidays, yet behind the carefully decorated homes and endless shopping lists, something inside whispers: I’m exhausted. We hustle for perfection, measuring joy against someone else’s reality. For me, it was my mom. She poured herself into making everyone happy — the perfect table, the perfect gifts, the perfect smile — while slowly losing sight of the season’s simple essence: connection, peace, love. Somewhere between the wrapping paper and the well-meant chaos, she forgot what the holidays meant to her own heart. Watching her, I learned how easy it is to abandon ourselves in the name of tradition, and how sacred it feels to finally reclaim what truly matters.
Reframing the Holiday Narrative
What if we reimagined the holidays differently? Consider this: These celebrations emerge during the darkest winter months for a profound reason. They’re not just about shopping, decorations, or creating picture-perfect moments. Instead, they’re an invitation to something deeper.
The Curious Timing of Festivities
Have you ever noticed how the world seems to grow darker and brighter all at once this time of year? Just as the days shorten and the cold sets in, our calendars come alive with celebration. Perhaps it isn’t coincidence but Divine design.
Think of the rhythm: November opens with gratitude through harvest festivals and Thanksgiving. December follows with a spiritual mosaic—Hanukkah’s gentle glow, Kwanzaa’s radiant heritage, and Christmas’s enduring message of love. And then January brings renewal—a collective breath of hope.
It’s as if Earth herself whispers: sink into stillness, yet keep your light burning bright. The rhythm of celebration and introspection mirrors your own inner cycle. The darker the days outside, the deeper the glow within.
Three Ways to Reclaim Your Sacred Holiday Spirit
1. Take Time For Reflection
The holidays can be fertile ground for awakening—if you create space for stillness.
Each morning, before the world rushes in, ask yourself:
What genuinely brought me joy this year?
Where did I grow, even through difficulty?
Who am I becoming?
Write your answers down. They become love notes to your evolving self.
And remember, gratitude isn’t a checklist—it’s a moment of remembrance. Whisper thank you for something you once prayed for.
Be grateful for your personality type →
2. Prioritize Soulful Self-Care
Here’s your permission to stop performing and start breathing.
Forget the Pinterest-perfect expectations and step into alignment:
Set boundaries that protect your peace.
Honor the quiet instead of filling every moment.
Trade obligatory “yeses” for meaningful pauses.
When you move with intention rather than expectation, you radiate freedom. The kind of freedom only authenticity can create.
3. Reconnect with Your Inner Child
Remember how excited you felt around Christmas. The anticipation was off the charts. You work innocent joy like a warm blanket. Everyone seemed to catch the holiday spirit—more smile,s wonder, and laughter. She’s still there, waiting for you to notice her.
Invite her out to play by:
Doing something simple and fun, with no goal attached… build a snowman, light a candle, put those cozy jammer’s on early and watch your favorite Christmas movie.
Blast Christmas carols and who cares if your off-key.
Going for a walk just to look at lights.
That childlike curiosity connects you back to your truest self—the one unburdened by roles, rules, or responsibility.
Rediscover your childlike personality →
A Soulful Advent: Your 5-Minute Morning Ritual
Let’s reimagine Advent not as countdown chocolate but as spiritual nourishment. The word adventus means “arrival.” It’s a season to prepare your inner home for Divine presence.
Create your own sacred Advent through a 5-minute morning ritual:
Choose a guidebook that speaks to your spirit—A Course in Miracles, A Year of Miracles by Marianne Williamson, or Unpack Your Personality.
Create space. Light a candle, breathe deeply, open your journal.
Read with reverence. Receive the day’s few lines as sacred guidance.
Reflect and carry the message. Let its essence move through your day.
When done daily, this tiny ritual becomes a bright thread of mindfulness through the season’s swirl.
Setting Clear Intentions: The Heartbeat of the Season
Before the festivities begin, question your holiday motivations. Do they stem from joy or obligation? Try the Joy Litmus Test:
Does this bring calm or stress?
Am I doing it out of love or expectation?
Would I still want this if no one noticed?
Idea: The Holiday Meal Makeover
Maybe you’ve been cooking marathon meals out of tradition, but what if you served fewer dishes with more meaning instead? Simplify, explain your true intention—to nourish relationships, not just plates—and feel the shift unfold.
Create your list of holiday intentions in a journal. Speak them out loud to bring them alive. Alignment is born when your actions match your inner truth.
Staying True Amid the Noise
Even the most grounded souls can get triggered during the holidays. These moments aren’t failures; they’re invitations to heal.
Try this three-step approach:
Sidestep Gossip. Silence is strength.
Handle Rudeness with Grace. Excuse yourself gently from escalating energies.
See Criticism as Projection. Others’ words mirror their own unhealed fears—don’t make them your own.
And if the noise feels too much, step outside. Breathe cold air. Let silence reset your nervous system. Solitude is sacred, not selfish.
The Deeper Purpose: Light in the Darkness
Every holiday flame, every shared meal, every act of kindness echoes one message: in darkness, we remember the light.
This season reminds us to reconnect with our divine essence—the spark of creation alive in every soul.
Even as the world feels uncertain, you can trust this inner flame. It never burns out. It only waits to be noticed.
Journal Prompt
What am I ready to release this holiday season so I can make space for peace, authenticity, and sacred joy?
3 Ways To Stay True to You During the Holidays
Did you enjoy 3 Ways To Stay True to You During the Holidays? I believe personality typing is not just about stereotypical labels. It’s about discovering and exploring your higher conscious self, the Self that is a spark of Divine; all their IS. When you understand this about yourself it enables you to consciously create your life; in creative and imaginative ways. I hope this post helps you see your personality, in a more meaningful and holistic way! Know your personality is the expression of your higher conscious soul self.
A Soulful Invitation
If you find yourself standing at this same crossroads—questioning, grieving, angry, but ready to rediscover your soul’s magic—I’m here to walk beside you.
Let’s explore your story it all starts with a Clarity Call where we decode your personality path and map a soulful next chapter that feels true to who you are becoming.
Sign up and check out my learning library —to read monthly blogs full of reflections, stories, and soul practices for women awakening to their authentic selves after midlife change.
Because this next chapter? It’s not an ending. It’s your magical moment to begin again!
Please Share This Message
My hope is always to encourage fresh ways of seeing yourself and to plant seeds of truth. Through Spiritual Personality Typing℠, we can remember who we really are—and in doing so, lift the vibration of the planet together.
If this message stirred something in you, share it with a friend, sister, or coworker who may need the reminder. You never know who’s waiting for this nudge. For more inspiration, you can also find me on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Travel as Soul Discovery
During my own life tsunami, I birthed a new way of seeing travel. Instead of bucket lists, I began seeking journeys led by the soul—experiences that expand, not escape. My book, Unpack Your Personality: Let Your Inner Guide Be Your Travel Guide, is part memoir, part guide, part reimagined personality framework through the lens of spirit. Each page is meant to help you discover a new destination: yourself.
If you’re curious about your unique Travel Personality Type, I’d love to explore it with you in a one-on-one session.
Dive Deeper
If this message resonates, you may enjoy my conversation on the The Beauty in the Mess podcast with host Michelle Simms were we discuss; What If You’ve Been Chasing The Wrong Success All Along 👉 Listen Here
More ways to explore:
Watch on YouTube
Read: Why Being True To Yourself Is The Ultimate Holiday Gift
Read: Best Gifts For the 16 Personality Types
Give the Gift of Self Awakening: Unpack Your Personality… But it on Amazon here
Who Is Nina Zapala?
I created Spiritual Personality Typing℠ during what I call my “midlife tsunami,” a season of upheaval that stripped away illusions and brought me to truth. A liberating lesson taught me; old-school typology only tells half the story. This realization lead to a new personality paradigm one that bridges the personality and soul. This isn’t another new activation it’s alignment—a committed way of living true to your self.
Today I guide women just like you to ignite the relationship between soul and personality the totality of your true self-expression—free from fear or compromise. Think of it as a coming into wholeness–gracious, yet audacious; releasing the patriarchy, invisibility, and anti-aging tropes. A return to simple and soulful living. Vibrant. Free. Liberated.
Here’s what I’ve come to know: Every wrinkle is a story. Every scar, a sacred map. When we deny our true self, the soul withers. When we embrace her, we bloom into timelessness.
Photo: Credit: unsplash.com/@kacea
UPDATED: 2024
