The Bean & Seed

While watching any post-game interview, when the reporter asks, “what contributed to your success?”, you’ll often hear the athlete say, “coach had us prepared and we executed the plan”. Similar words could be shared by a student who did well on a test; they prepared; they were ready for whatever questions were thrown at them. Life is like this in general. The more prepared you are, the better you’re likely to do. Today, I’d like to talk about finishing out 2025 strong and getting ready to start 2026 even stronger. The thing is, right now, I think the biggest thing I need in order to be prepared… is rest.

Thinking about the athlete. They have to play the game. They can’t exhaust themselves practicing in the leadup to the big event. It’s the same thing for the student. They need a good night of rest prior to their exam. Why, then, do we push ourselves so hard in the lead up to other occasions in life? Christmas and New Years are right around the corner now; this may be our last chance to take a break for a couple weeks. I would like to suggest that we all remember to prepare ourselves mentally and physically for the coming holidays so that we can enjoy them to their fullest. For me, this means making sure that I have the bandwidth, that my stomach is right, and that I’m well rested.

I previously posted about mental bandwidth and the effects that anxiety has on it. I’ve also mentioned being an introvert a couple times on the blog. Making sure I have the mental bandwidth for an upcoming event frequently means taking it easy before the event; I have to have time to clear my head in order to be prepared for interacting and conversing with others. It has nothing to do with being afraid of interacting and carrying on conversations, but I do know that if I don’t have the bandwidth for the activity, then I can come across as standoffish to others. I don’t want that, so I need to make sure my affairs are in order to be alert and on point when conversing and interacting. By this, I mean I need to make sure that I’m not preoccupied with something that’s going on in my own life. Having the house cleaned up, the refrigerator stocked, the bills paid… all of this will allow me to focus more on the holiday event. The trick is, this all has to be done while still allowing myself downtime in order to be mentally fresh. It’s about being organized and planned out; just like coach said.

When I say my stomach needs to be right, I just mean that I typically don’t do well with holiday food, so I need to do what I can to be able to partake along with everyone else. Foods can be too sweet, too rich, whatever word you want to use… Maybe it’s just the introvert anxiety, but either way, I need to make sure I’m eating healthy and light in the lead up to an event in order to be able to better enjoy holiday foods.

Finally, I need to be well rested. Like the student before the exam, I need to make sure I’m getting to bed on time. Note, this is different than having downtime. Here I’m strictly talking about making sure I keep my routine; getting to bed at a normal time; getting up when I usually do. Holiday plans can be fun, but I need to make sure I don’t overextend myself and get out of my routine. I spoke about this previously in “The Bean & Seed Guide to the Holidays“.

So, with all of this said, I’m going to be taking a couple of weeks off from posting on the blog. I’ve been posting weekly since I went live with the site and will continue to do so in the future, but here, at holiday time, I think it will be prudent to make sure I have the mental bandwidth to engage with those I’ll be gathering with in person. I’ll be posting again the week of January 5th. I’m looking forward to concluding my series on my mental health journey, and I’ll also be posting a follow up to last week’s post on sugar and artificial sweeteners. In the meantime, I hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!

Thanks for reading, Matt

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