The month of December grates on my nerves a bit, and when I’m irritated about everything and nothing, I don’t like additional pressure “to do” or “to perform,” even when it comes to things I enjoy. That’s why I’m taking a break from working on my memoir this month and avoiding as many extracurricular activities as possible.

Instead of writing and socializing, I’m going through my closets and drawers and purging. It’s very therapeutic. I cast off old stuff and do some deep cleaning in the process, literally and figuratively.

During the holiday season, I’m not even keen to write a weekly blog post. If I’m not purging, I’d rather play with my cats, bake some cookies, read a book, or watch a Hallmark Christmas movie. I know the new year will bring a renewed outlook, so I’m accepting the way I feel and riding the wave.

As I sat down to write this week’s post, my general mood got in the way and my mind went blank. Then a couple of ideas popped up, but frankly, I didn’t feel like making the effort to formulate my thoughts. Then it hit me: Do what every blogger does when they need a break. Share some blog posts from other bloggers for readers to enjoy. Bingo!

So, friends, this week, here are five blog posts I’ve read and liked. Read one, read them all, whatever suits your fancy. They’re not long (a couple are very short) and they’re good. Now click on those purple links…

Craig Harper doesn’t pull any punches in this one. Yes, you may have had a less than stellar childhood. In fact, it may have been downright awful, but at some point, you have to stop blaming your parents, grow up, and move on. I may have tried to say it more kindly than Craig does, but he’s got a point.

Most experts agree that more than one drink per day for women (two for men) is too much (the size of drink depends on the alcohol in question) and that it’s good to have a couple of alcohol free days per week. If you’re drinking more than that, you might have a problem, and of course, those empty calories aren’t doing much for your waistline.

In this blog post, well-known minimalism blogger Courtney Carver talks about why she decided to give up drinking. Food for thought.

While degrees can be useful depending on the type of career you want, I’ve never been exceedingly impressed by them. Ok, you studied, learned some stuff, and got a piece of paper to prove it. Good. Now move on. It follows that I’m completely unimpressed by job titles. Like Joshua Fields Millburn, I’m more interested in what you’re passionate about.

We’ve all had bad bosses. However, Seth Godin talks about the world’s worst boss, and it’s not who you’d expect.

I’m all for reduce, reuse and recycle, and while important, these aren’t the practices that have the biggest impact on climate change. Although this piece isn’t from a blog, it’s a short article on the four things we REALLY need to do to have the biggest impact. 

These aren’t necessarily easy, and may not be popular, but given the dangerous precipice we’re standing on, we all need to do a bit of soul searching and question what we’re doing. (Disclaimer: Yes, I’ve booked a trip to Jamaica this winter because I haven’t gone south in several years.)

Thank you for indulging my lack of writing enthusiasm this week. I hope these articles get you thinking.