Four Steps to Enjoying the Holidays
How can you avoid the overwhelm, overspend, overextend of the holiday season? Read on!
The holiday season is upon is! While it's the time of year when we especially want to take pleasure in our family, friends, feel a sense of gratitude and increasing peace, the stress and overwhelm of shopping, preparing, travelling, in addition to the usual workload, make it difficult to enjoy ourselves. Instead of feeling ready to leap into the new year feeling rested and prepared for the dreams and tasks ahead, we're drained, financially and physically. Because the knowledge that we've got baking to do, cards to prepare and send, gifts to shop for and wrap, family to host (or travel to make plans for), parties to give or attend, decorations to put up…is enough to make our pulse race and our blood pressure climb, feeling overloaded is understandable. Here are some ways to head that strain off at the beginning of the holidays so that we can move through them with more peace of mind and less scrambling. 1. Make a list, like Santa! Write it down, listing everything you're planning for the season so less slips through the cracks. There will be less last-minute running around, and a greater feeling of calm. Make sub-lists where necessary (all the people you're getting gifts for and what you might like to get them, the parties you're going to and what you'll need to bring, the entertaining you're planning and what needs to be done including a shopping list, the projects you're planning and what you'll need to do or get together to accomplish them). 2. Smaller bites! One of the reasons we feel overwhelmed is because we think we need to take a half day to make out the holiday cards, or decorate the tree, and it's hard to find a half day at this time of year! Take a look at the list and determine which items are tasks and which are projects. Break the projects up into tasks, the tasks into small time bites. If you have half an hour or even 15 minutes, you can make out three or four (or more) holiday cards, wrap a couple of gifts, put up a couple of decorations, or go online to order some gifts. If you're baking or entertaining, use small slots of time to make easy,
individual dishes ahead of time that you can freeze or refrigerate. 3. Go easy: Let go of 1/3 of your list, if possible, and simplify another 1/3! Does the baking give you joy, or is it a chore? How many parties do you need to attend, gifts do you really need to get? If you're entertaining, can you ask others to bring their favorite dish? Do you need to put up every decoration you own, or can a few judiciously placed items do the trick? How can you streamline the gift buying process, the holiday card preparation? What would lessen the expense, and make it more manageable (can you create a quick and easy holiday budget with a spending cap so you don't start of the new year with bigger burden)? While the TV shows and magazines are trying to persuade us to spend, spend, spend, and take on an abundance of holiday projects, resist the impulse by sticking to your budget, or limit the projects to only one that would give you the most pleasure with the least effort. 4. Schedule, schedule, schedule: after you've listed, chunked, and whittled your holiday to-do's, block out time on your calendar to get everything done over the next few weeks. Schedule it now so you've got a framework to get it all done. Use your computer, datebook, palm device, or post it notes as reminder triggers, and make it a small habit to look at your schedule each morning - it takes seconds to do and will make a huge difference in what you get done each day. Block out half an hour here, 2 hours there, an hour on another day, and commit to following through. You might want to "over-schedule" if that works for you: schedule twice as many times to do something as you think you need, so that even if you don't get to it at one appointed time, you've got another scheduled to cover for the missed time. Don't forget to schedule some down-time for yourself, and be sure to incorporate fun stuff, and rewards for jobs well done. And enjoy the holidays!
About the Author
Kerul is a gifted Personal and Business Coach. She enjoys working with people who want to grow personally and professionally, and are willing to commit themselves to the process. She is devoted to providing great value to her clients.
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