A Gift from Santa, Pt. 2

Transcript

Sweetheart, can I talk to you? No, you're not in trouble. Not at all.

Well, I'm wondering if I am, actually. In trouble. You're acting distraught, distant, withdrawn.

Baby, I know the signs. Something is bothering you. Look, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll respect that.

But I do want you to know that I'm here, and I'm willing to listen, I'm willing to understand you. And I promise, I won't try to fix it for you if all you want to do is share. Of course, I'm happy to sit with you.

Why don't you tell me what's on your mind? I'm sorry you're feeling sad, baby. You're right, the time is getting pretty short here.

Time for me to go, before long. But why, why is that making you so sad? You knew that I was only going to be here a year.

Mm-hmm. Well, I do understand the disappointment and the sadness that come along with my departure. But you can reframe this.

You can look at it a different way. No, not like that. I want you to think, why did I come here? What was the purpose of me being sent to you? Well, yeah, I get that it was a Christmas wish.

But why was it granted? And why was it granted in the way that it was granted? Why not just send your perfect man to you forever? It's okay if you don't really understand right now or if you need some more time to think about it.

I want you to think about where you were before I came into your life, okay? You felt very alone. You were struggling.

You weren't sure that you had what was in you to attract a guy like me. You thought you might just have to settle for less, someone who didn't love you as much or as well. You just weren't happy.

You weren't happy to settle for that. You were going to be content with that, with less, for your whole life. And you'd decided that the only thing left for you in life was yearning for something that you just couldn't have and being disappointed every step of the way.

So dig a little bit deeper. Why would your wish be granted in the way that it was? Why only send you your perfect partner, your ideal man, for just one year and then take me away? Well, I think the reason is that you don't need a wishing star or a Christmas wish or whatever else it may be to attract the man that you want.

You just needed to see that you could be that kind of person, that kind of partner. You needed to get out of the slump that you were in. You needed to feel better about yourself, about your prospects, about your life, about love and happiness and your chances for both.

What did you learn? What did you learn by being with me? Well, that's a good start.

You can connect with a partner without having to lose who you are. You might have to be patient to find the one who works for you. And you definitely have to be flexible and willing to be the best version of yourself.

How can you hope to attract a perfect partner for you but expect him not to want a perfect partner for himself in return? And I know I'm not perfect. I think I'm pretty good though.

But that means that you've had to accept imperfection. But that's a fair thing since that's what you give back. Something that's amazing, beautiful, wonderful.

I'm not perfect. And I think that in life we give up a lot of happiness and we pass on a lot of joy in the futile search for perfection. You had to learn with me how to be happy with good enough.

And with progress over perfection, you had to be willing to accept that in your partner and you had to be willing to accept it, yeah, exactly, in yourself. You had to be willing to ask your partner to step up to the bar. And you also had to be willing to step up to the bar yourself.

And look at what's happened. You've grown. You're happy.

Yeah, but that's the thing. I'm not the one that's been giving you the happiness. Oh, certainly I help.

I do things that you like. But you've found the happiness inside you. The grass is always greener somewhere else.

But you've learned to appreciate how green it is in your own yard. And that really is the way to find happiness. To be happy living your life and making it your best life.

To be happy with yourself and make yourself into your best self. If you couldn't do those things, nothing that I brought into your life would have made you happy. Nothing.

You'd still be yearning for more. You'd still feel empty and unfulfilled. I helped shine a light on the path for you, but you had to walk it yourself.

And that's why you're going to be just fine. You've learned what kind of partner you deserve. If that means you have to be patient when I'm gone, if it means you have to spend a little time without a partner, it'll be fine.

You're going to be fine. Don't settle for the first man that comes along. Be willing to find the right one.

And the other thing you've learned is make yourself the kind of partner that your perfect man would want to be with. If you do that, you'll be fine.