Why I Don’t Treat the Holidays Like a “Last Chance” Anymore

For years, the holidays felt like a strange mix of joy and pressure. I’d enter December already thinking about January 1st — the day I was “supposed” to get back on track, start fresh, or recommit to whatever diet was trending that year. And because of that, I treated Christmas and the entire holiday season like a window of time to eat everything I could before tightening the rules again.

It wasn’t about enjoying the food. It was about urgency, scarcity, and the feeling that my freedom had an expiration date.

Looking back, I can see how exhausting that mindset was. I was trying to eat as much as possible of all the food I loved, that I stopped even enjoying it.

Over the years, as I’ve unlearned diet culture and rebuilt my relationship with movement and food, something shifted:
I stopped treating January 1st like a threat.

I no longer change how I eat or stress about what I’m eating during the holidays. I’ve learned that I can enjoy holiday food and still meet my body’s needs. These two things aren’t competing — they’re connected. When I trust myself, when I listen to my hunger and fullness cues, when I actually let myself enjoy traditions without guilt, everything feels more grounded.

The biggest surprise? I don’t “lose control.”
I actually enjoy food more because it’s not tied to punishment or restriction.

And when January rolls around, it’s just another day — not a deadline, not a reset button, not the beginning of a new cycle of pressure.

If you’ve lived through that same holiday-diet loop, I want you to know this:

You’re not doing anything wrong. Nothing is wrong with you. The system you learned was designed to make you feel that way.

You’re allowed to step out of it.

You’re allowed to eat holiday food without compensating for it.
You’re allowed to enjoy traditions without promising yourself a stricter January.
You’re allowed to rest, or move gently, or skip workouts without guilt.
You’re allowed to trust yourself around food.

This season, I hope you give yourself permission to show up for your body with kindness instead of control. Not because it’s easy, but because you deserve a holiday that feels like a holiday — not a countdown clock.

January 1st is just another day.
You don’t have to earn your way into it.