With so many holidays smashed together so closely during this season, it's really easy to get swept away with all the lists, organizing, cooking, and shopping. But don't forget to take time for the most important part of the equation… you!
Remember that if you don't keep yourself happy and healthy, nothing is going to get done. Here are a few ideas to keep in the back of your mind amongst the frenzy of trying to make everything perfect this Holiday Season.
Time Out: Do you have lots of people around you all the time needing you for all sorts of things? Well, how about taking a ten-minute 'time out' each day this month just for you. Fill that time with anything that makes you happy and calms your mind, like enjoying a glass of wine or cup of tea in silence in your favorite chair. Let everyone in your life know that this is your time and put a "Do Not Disturb" sign up as a reminder.
Pamper Yourself: Take one day this month and go to the spa or get a massage or spend a few extra minutes at the gym to hop in the steam room. Stress can accumulate in your body and wear you down. Remember to stop and take care of letting it go. Everyone in your life will thank you for it.
Bath Time: Don't have time for the spa? Make one at home. Burn a few candles and get some lavender salts for a luxurious in-home spa time. Try to do this a few times a week, even if it's only for a short time; it will make a world of difference.
Scents: Fill your home with smells that bring peace, happiness and good memories to you. Smells can bring up fabulous feelings and change your mood.
Work(out) Through It: You have got to find a way to get that stress out, so why not use physical exercise to keep everything balanced? Sign up for your favorite yoga, pilates, zumba, dance or group class. Go for a 20 minute jog or walk.
Delegate: Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. Relinquishing some control just might be what you need to turn this year's holiday season into a stress-free one.
(Image: Shutterstock)
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It seems to me that if you find the holidays to be stressful, then you might want to rethink your priorities.
I agree with Bath Time tremendously, but I think that filling up a bath for ten minutes of soaking is kind of a severe waste of both water and bath salts. If you've only got ten minutes to spare, light those candles, get some fancy body wash, and have a spa-like shower.
If you want to do Bath Time, do it right: candles, bath salts, bubble bath, a good book (one you've read a million times; a comfort read)...maybe hot tea or perhaps something alcoholic. Take a half-hour or an hour to soak and enjoy the calm. It's still cheaper than the spa and just as refreshing.
I also hear people unhappy about the cold and dark. My advice: run. Run run run run. Get outside with warm clothes, find a pretty lake and jog for an hour. It's addictive and you'll feel like a new person.
@cbreynolds - That's kind of a generalization. Holidays can be extremely stressful in ways that are completely reasonable. For instance, if you have family members traveling to you, it might mean that you have to guide them from the airport or find room for their car on your street, or entertain them when they get here. Or, in my case recently, everyone got delayed by bad weather and since I wasn't traveling, I worked on rebooking everyone's flight and sending them updates while they waited in enormous customer service lines.
drink? oh yeah. and work out. a lot. do both of those things a lot. Hehe.
Get in the pool and swim. Underwater is quiet and blissful.
Ahhhhh....
The best way to deal with stress during the holiday season is to learn how to say no.
Taking a short bath vs. taking a long bath doesn't change the amount of water being "wasted" or used.
It also helps to plan. Figure out the order you need to do things in early, and pace yourself so the important hings get done first so the lesser ones can slide.
For example, for me this year I had a to-do list: craft little presents for 30 co-workers, craft nicer bigger gifts for the six people on my team, shop for my partner, make the 6 handmade holiday cards I send (only a very select list of remaining immediate family and a couple of old friends), bake my two favorite holiday cookies, make my new bonsai Christmas tree (a la Marthat Stewart), clean and decorate, shop for and cook the Big Dinner. No planned entertaining except for informal impromptu movie nights.
I fell in love with the Martha Stewart bonsai tree featured here last year, and I found a suitable base fake bonsai at Home Goods this summer for ~$25. Thought about how to modify the "umbrella shape" into a more triangular one, found a suitable chunk of weathered branch and saved it. Collected some appropriate ornaments over the early part of the season, so I was ready to go. Actually crafted it on Thanksgiving weekend when I had some time off.
I found some red, green and white striped ribbon at my favorite flea market this summer and realized I could make holiday bookmarks with it for the staff at work. Thought about what I wanted to do with it off and on until I had a plan, got the other supplies I needed, and eventually found some time to craft the items. Got some little holiday snack bags and "wrapped" the finished bookmarks which are in my car waiting for the staff party to hand out.
Although I usually bake weeks ahead of time so we can munch on the cookies between Thanksgiving and Christmas (I make nutballs which are rich and keep well -- a BIG batch!), this year we are dieting so we don't want them around, tempting us, that long. So I plan to bake in the couple of days I have off just before Christmas, making a small batch. It breaks my heart, but I am determined to drop a few more pounds!
Planned, shopped for, then crafted my few (beautiful, if I do say so myself) cards last weekend, so they are now ready to mail in plenty of time.
I will make some gifts for my fellow Reference Librarians this weekend, in time for the staff party next week. They are planned and I have the materials on hand, so it's just a matter of following through.
My point is that you can do a lot, and not feel stressed, if you figure out early what you want to accomplish and what order to do things in so you use your time efficiently. I choose to NOT make or give cards to every distant relative and friend. I shop online, as early as I think of things. I know from year to year I want to make something in my craft form (polymer clay) for the people I work with, so I mentally bookmark ideas whenever they strike, ready to use when I need them. It's leaving things to the last minute that adds the unnecessary stress... (Some stress is probably unavoidable when dealing with a family event, though!)