Hello everyone and welcome back to this month’s motivational article! It seems that November just flew by, and now we are finally into the holiday season. Hopefully everyone had an absolutely amazing Thanksgiving and is ready to get back into school to stick it out until break! I am so excited for the break, and it is important to have something to look forward to/keep us going through all the stress, specifically as students. This article we will be reflecting on goals we made, how to spread positivity/cheer during the holiday season and some interesting holiday facts! 

————————————————————————————-

“Happiness will never come to those who don’t appreciate what they already have.”

————————————————————————————-

Goal Reflections: 

If you read this column regularly, you would know that last month’s article was mostly centered around goal setting and the importance of it. Within that article, we set goals for ourselves to improve the beginning of our school year. Now that the second marking period is in full swing, not only is it time to set new goals, but it is also important to reflect on the goal outcomes from last month. Here are some guiding questions to help you reflect on your goal(s) and determine ways that you can go about achieving your new one.  

Did you accomplish your goal? 

If you did, what do you think you did right? What did you learn from accomplishing this goal? 

If you did not achieve your goal, what could you have done differently? What stopped you from accomplishing this goal?

Once you answer those questions, it is time to make a new goal. Keep your past goal in mind and refer to last month’s article if you need some more information on setting goals. For now, I will put the basic guidelines for setting goals below: 

————————————————————————————-

Spreading Cheer Throughout the Holiday Season: 

The holiday season is the happiest time of the year for some. However, for others they dread this time of year. Whether it is due to family, lack of money or just a negative mindset, not everyone has the privilege to have a good holiday. This is why it is important to try and spread as much cheer as you can to those in need! 

Some things you can do are…

• Donate to charities: one of the charities that I love to donate to is Toys for Tots. This charity gives toys to less fortunate kids. All kids deserve to have presents to open this time of the year, but not every parent can afford it. By donating toys to this charity, you can make a child’s holiday unforgettable.

• Bake cookies for friends and family: after all, this is the season of giving! Giving just something small to those around you could make their day.

• Invite someone over for dinner. Do you know someone who is going to be home alone on Christmas? Do you know someone who is extremely lonely, especially this time of the year? Invite them over to your house! Even if they do not want to come, there is no doubt they will have a feeling of joy knowing that you care!
• Greet people with a smile and a “happy holidays.” Though this is a very easy and almost basic thing to do, it is still a good way to put a smile on someone’s face pretty fast. This also allows people to look at you in a more positive way and think of you as a nice person. 

————————————————————————————-

Interesting Holiday Facts:

“Jingle Bells” was the first song played in space and was originally a Thanksgiving song.

Mariah Carey wrote “All I Want for Christmas Is You”  in 15 minutes

The top three places to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the United States are New York City, Las Vegas and Disney World.

Over 17.5 million jelly donuts are consumed in Israel throughout Hanukkah.

Hanukkah means “dedication” in Hebrew

There are 14 religious holidays in the month of November.

————————————————————————————-

With that being said, I think it is about time to end this article! I can not wrap my head around the fact that the next article I write will be going up in 2022! We are so close to a fresh, new year! I can not wait for Christmas to come! What holiday do you celebrate? Whatever it may be, I hope everyone has an amazing upcoming break filled with happiness, cheer and resolutions for the New Year (which we will talk about in the next article!) See you all next month (or next year!) 🙂