Are you dreaming of a white space Christmas?

In a 'normal' year, the holiday season is filled with ups and downs. In this decidedly non-normal year, the holidays are likely filled with more downs than ups, with many of us unable to travel to see loved ones, or even to get together with friends or colleagues in our same city. This is on top of now nearly a year of managing pandemic-related stresses in our personal and professional lives. Many of us are likely counting down the days/hours until whatever time off we have planned arrives. (You have scheduled some, right??)

So how can we make the most of this opportunity for a break? To really make it renewing and restoring?

Two words: White space

In the design world, white space refers to the blank areas around a design element. Good design intentionally makes use of white space, in order, for example, to create contrast, highlight certain features, make information easier to process, and generally bring more balance to the design. You can probably see where we are going with this...

When we can apply white space in the 'design' of our daily schedule we can also reap these same benefits of greater clarity and balance.

We get that in the typical, often frenetic, pace of working life, creating some white space feels really challenging. But perhaps the holidays can be the perfect time to experiment with carving out even brief periods for relaxation, disconnecting from devices, reflecting on the year behind/ahead, or simply staring off into (white) space! 

 And then perhaps looking at your calendar in the coming weeks and scheduling in a few more of these sessions. You could really go crazy and schedule in some white space every day! We can already hear the resistance to this suggestion. But just consider what could be different if you gave it a try? We would love to hear how it turns out! And please check out this link for more encouragement.

Wishing you all a white space Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.