Five ways to save your serenity this holiday season
If the usual harbinger of the season has yet to arrive, it’s likely getting ready to knock on your door. No. It’s not the cold weather. We’re talking holiday stress. While we can’t promise you we can stop all of it from storming into the living room, we can offer some help on how to keep some of it on the front lawn.
Turn back time
No. Don’t try to build a time machine to go back to July when you told yourself you’d begin holiday shopping. (Though, wouldn’t that be nice?) We’re suggesting going back to last year’s journals or just thinking back and pinpointing the times when you were most stressed. Write them down, and come up with actionable plans today to prevent them. If you’re having trouble remembering last December’s most chaotic days, ask those who are around you most. They may remember better than you.
By all means, if you’re going to have to deal with any stress this year, it should at least be new stress, right?
Choosing the right gifts
Did you spend too much time last year trying to find gifts for those hard-to-shop-for people, just to pick up some forgettable gift sets the day before? This year, ask them what they want. If they don’t have any ideas, you decide what will make you happy to give them. After all, the holidays aren’t a series of mini ransom demands. Most people just want to open beautifully wrapped gifts and see they’re important enough to receive something special from the people they love.
Ultimate time-saving secret
Beautiful wrapping isn’t something your schedule or skills allow? Two words: gift bags. Also, in the weeks after the holidays, think ahead to next year. You can buy fistfuls of them for up to 90% off at discount stores. Stash them with your decorations, and you’re sure to remember them when the next winter rolls around.
Covert teamwork
The holidays are about love and togetherness with family and friends who may as well be family. Get in the spirit and help each other by cutting your holiday dinner cooking in half. Share cooking duties with a friend who lives nearby. Instead of making six or seven different sides and desserts in the days before the big event, make double batches of a few of your most tasty and trade them the day before. No one at your table has to know your friend is blissfully serving virtually the same meal on the same day just a few miles away. (Plus, you get to serve your friend’s amazing cheesecake like it’s your own. Don’t feel bad. It’s fair. Your friend is doing the same with your artichoke dip.)
Treat yourself
The most important tip is the one everyone seems to repeat, but few of us actually do: find ways each day to enjoy the season. Enjoy a cookie your co-worker thoughtfully baked without worrying about calories. Take different routes home, and be sure to smile at all the beautiful lights and decorations. Then, even if you have just a few minutes to breathe before heading to bed, let the stress melt away with something special like a massage or a footbath.
It’s absolutely true: when you’re enjoying more moments in the month of December, those around you will too.