The most wonderful time of the year

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and are now looking forward to a joyful new year!

My Christmas went well; in fact, the past week was probably the best week I've had in a while. I traveled with my family for the holidays, and at first I was worried about it because I was getting way out of my routine. I did not have my favorite liquid soap; I did not have my familiar tableware; I was in the car a lot, and I was in close quarters with a bunch of people most of the time.

Yet I survived. In some ways, getting out of routine helped, because it forced me to take long, quiet walks almost every morning, and it also provided a chance for me to use a hot tub! I normally hate pools of any kind, even though my OT says being in water is very good for getting the proprioceptive input that I need.

After thinking about it, I have realized that it's not the water I hate, or even the pools. I just don't like being in water like that when there are other people around. It makes sense -- I don't like being around crowds anyway (there are people making noises, maybe accidentally brushing against me or stepping on my toes... sometimes the sight of lots of people is simply visually overwhelming). So why would I like being with a crowd in a pool?

This week, I had the chance to sit in a hot tub all alone with no one around, and it was great. I did not mind the water or the pool at all. All the deep pressure must have really helped me feel good.

Still, my week wasn't perfectly...sensational. My family went to a Christmas Eve service at a large, contemporary church, and when I got out of the building, my skin was crawling. I loved the message of the service, of course, but the loud music and the platform lighting was too much for me. I hadn't expected it to be so intense, so I hadn't thought to bring my chewing gum or earplugs. I did put some Kleenexes in my ears, though. If anything, the service made me feel grateful for my home church, which is small and does not insist on playing the music like the whole thing is a rock concert.