Boxing Day
Are you keeping up?!
As a child, I thought there was a boxing match on TV that my family wasn’t turning on. As a teenager, I knew it was time for sales. My parents shook their heads as I raced off to the mall. Somewhere along the line, I clicked; it’s the day of Christmas aftermath when we start packing up - put down the Christmas tree, tidy up the presents lying around the lounge, box up all the leftover food.
One of the quirks about me is that I specialise in racing ahead. Not everyone has ADHD, so that strength could also be boxed up with the description of ‘activator’. You might relate - although you probably have your own quirks. When I did the ‘Strengths Finder’ assessment (and wrote on Substack for the first time), activator was my #1 strength. That means I hear information, and my instant reaction is to do something. Thinking comes later. Often, that’s a strength. I get shit done.
This boxing day, packing is not a new thought. It’s actually getting old. You can tell by the way I’m now labelling the boxes that we are beyond ready to head to Christchurch.
On Christmas Day 2025, I had all the time in the world. My teenagers are away with extended family, so I only have 50% of my children. We had one thing we could do - go to the local church at 9.30 am. Easy.
Except I see a window of time and I think YES! Let’s get shit done! I see ‘units of time.’
10 mins max.
The boys smashed out opening presents and Christmas excitement. Tick.I multi task over that 10 mins.
I spend time sitting with my husband and make him a coffee. Good wife. Tick.1 minute. Text both my big kids Merry Christmas and tell them to phone me. Parenting. Tick.
And after that I have 2.5 hours: I see a list for me to choose from, most days I write a physical list. At school the teacher referred to that slot on the schedule as ‘free time’ and it was easy to choose. But now it’s overwhelming because I want and need to do it ALL.
Go for a run.
Praise Jesus for this week.
Pack boxes for the move.
Take my medications - don’t forget the HRT gel that needs time to dry.
Have a shower and wash my hair.
Work out the weather and wear the right clothes today.
I can’t choose what I want to do, so I do it all and slide into church late - on Christmas Day - holding a protein smoothie because I didn’t write ‘have breakfast’ on my list. The smoothie was also blended too quickly, so in the car (a 30-second drive) I realised it had lumps of frozen banana in it. I walked into a church I don’t attend frequently and asked for a spoon to eat my smoothie-soup through the call to worship.
If we lived in Samoa, I can’t describe how ‘not ok’ eating a smoothie in church would be. A few looks in church yesterday made it clear it’s probably not alright in Tapanui either. I laugh internally and think, ‘come as you are!’ My poor husband has had to tolerate a lot as I’ve become more wired. He’s had to extend a lot of grace to me. Read between the lines here and understand I piss him off ALL the time. ADHD bubbling over in me has been an intense pressure in our marriage. Like I said on Unwrapping Christmas, it’s been messy.
I heard something as I ate and sat in church, and it excited me. I had to do something. That’s my quirk! I wrote and hit publish, but I didn’t anticipate what happened next. I am always the one who runs ahead, but it turns out - God has been running ahead faster all along. He’s the real overachiever here! He was so far ahead of me the last three years that I couldn’t see Him and was sitting feeling lonely in my mess. The mess also had to occur for me to find Jesus. I think this is where I reference Romans 8:28.
Unwrapping Christmas was my highest-engaged post ever. I don’t care whether it goes viral or not. I’m not here for fame. I’m not a teenager, and this is not Tik Tok. What is clear is how common different aspects of my struggle are. How many people understand (whether or not they have ADHD themself). The stats will also be a reflection, that you guys were all lying around with a food coma scrolling when I hit publish on the afternoon of 25 December - with ‘units of time’ to boot. The people and long-lost friends that came out of the woodwork and began communicating with me overwhelmed me. The sort of overwhelm that I love:
Oh my gosh. I can see God at work, and He is WAY ahead of me!
This wasn’t a prophetic glimpse of the future. This was a glimpse in real time. Things that are actually happening now. I could lie down and rest because I could see God’s got it sorted. All of it. I can stop running ahead. I can just enjoy being with Him this Christmas and that’s the feeling as I begin Boxing Day. I’ll try and not run ahead to the New Year but - I have this quirk of ‘activator’, and I’m already there! You’ll catch up soon!