Finding Joy During A Stressful Holiday Season

I am joining up with a bunch of fellow bloggers to bring you a blog party. This time the topic is about being stress free during the holidays. Check out the other bloggers who have joined in at the bottom of this post. 

Between the school’s holiday play, work obligations, Christmas parties, and gift shopping, the weeks leading up to Christmas can be a very busy and stressful time. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and rush through your busy days or get depressed and watch Netflix all day. When you push hard to get it all done and keep up with the Joneses, you may find yourself tired and exhausted on Christmas day, realizing that you’ve blown through the entire holiday season without stopping to enjoy it.

There are a few little simple things you can do to make sure that your holidays are stressful. If you’re ready to make a change just keep reading.

Stop And Smell The Poinsettias

When you’re busy, it’s hard to notice the fun little things this season has to offer. Challenge yourself to stop at least once a day and “smell the poinsettias”. Take a short little break to enjoy a cookie and your favorite cup of coffee or unwind after a long day with your favorite book. Spend a few extra minutes when you’re driving home with the kids in the evening and go look at lights. Turn on Christmas tunes and sing and dance through the house, an added bonus to lose some weight you might have put on during all the holiday festivities. Just stop and have fun for a few minutes. And if you feel the need go for a quick walk around the block, exercise is a great stress buster. 

Get Your Own Little Elves aka Your Children helping out

Santa doesn’t do everything on his own, and neither should you. Learn to delegate simple tasks can be done by your children. Like getting the kids to help with cleaning up after dinner. If you’re really sneaky, you can even get them to help with wrapping their own presents.

When you get some help with some of the things you have to get done, you’re freeing up a little time here and there to enjoy the season. No better time than the present to get good at delegating.

Making A List And Checking It Twice

Last but not least learn to prioritize. Make a list of what you need to get done today, this week, or before Christmas. I have a dry erase board in my office that I write everything I need to get done on the blog. I then circle the ones that are priorities. When I finish a task it feels so good to erase it off of the board. Look at what is on your list and mark through anything that is not a must have or must do.  It’s amazing how freeing cutting tasks and things out of your life can be. There are a lot of things we do just because we’ve always done them. When you stop and challenge yourself to focus on the important stuff, it becomes much easier to cut out busy work. That in turn greatly reduces the length of the to-do list and reducing that will reduce the time and stress constraints we feel over the holiday.s 

Follow Santa’s example and just like him, you’ll find joy in during this busy holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Check out these other blog posts about being stress-free during the holidays

• • Three Steps to Avoid the Holiday Creep from Lavender Zest

  • Unwinding from the Hustle from Random Crafty Georgia Girl

  • 5 Tips for Mindful Holidays from Yoga with Mo

  • How to Take Time to Wind Down Around the Holiday Season from My Kingdom of Chaos

 

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