How to keep a tradition part 2

The intersection of traditions and habits is found in the keeping. Are you finding it hard to keep you traditions going?

Why? Is it because they have lost their meaning, are you doing them for the sake of doing them? Is it a time problem, you are having trouble putting the required energy into your life? You can absolutely use this as a reason to drop the tradition, but sometimes you just need to allow yourself the freedom to skip it, reduce the specifics or lighten the load related to the tradition.
If you are having trouble getting the gumption, finding the energy, or generally connecting back to your tradition try something from this list

• go back to your why

• choose a scaled down version of your tradition

• change the timing

Your why is how you took an activity from a random thing to a tradition, maybe you just need to remind yourself of what the tradition means, what value and emotion it applies to. This small reminder can help you motivate yourself.

Scale it down. If you normally cook an elaborate meal or dish try just one dish or a simplified version of your recipe. Buy the dish, get takeout or try a restaurant with a similar vibe to your normal tradition. You can still get a similar experience without needing to skip the entire tradition.

Change the timing. Even if it is associated with a holiday, or specific part of the calendar, you can change it. One year I was super ill the same weekend that I normally make a very involved cinnamon roll recipe for a holiday. What did I do? I postponed the holiday all together. Pretended it didn’t exist on the correct weekend and instead made the cinnamon rolls a few weekends later. We did all the other things I associated with that holiday as well. Was it convenient? Not even a little, but I really value the traditions associated and I didn’t want to miss out on them entirely.