Stress Free Holiday?
Marc, November 12th, 2009 Each year a write an article or two about “surviving the holidays.” This year the focus is on simplifying the holidays. Why should we have to “survive” a joyous season? Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves every year around this time? Three things come to mind: guilt, tradition and family pressure.
Don’t go curl up in a fetal position. Hear me out. You don’t have to change your entire world view. What you should be doing, if like me, you dread the annual crush to please and measure up to your friends and family, is to take a little extra time to free up a little bit of your life. Ease the pressure on yourself. Stay in the moment and create new ways to celebrate the people you love! This doesn’t mean give up Thanksgiving and Hanukah, or Christmas or whatever you celebrate this time of year.
Balance and love will bring light to the holidays for your family, friends, and for you, much more so than any gift or dinner party possibly can. If the season begins to feel overwhelming, ask yourself, “How could I simplify (or eliminate) just one thing?” Prioritize and re-evaluate your holiday traditions. Create new ones. Just because Grandma did it this way forty years ago doesn’t mean you have to now. Serve meals that don’t take half a day in the kitchen. Ask your family for suggestions and help. Consider paper plates at the holiday get together and remember that many grocery stores will sell you a pre-made holiday dinner.
How much of your budget have you typically spent on the holidays each year? How long has it taken you to pay those bills off afterwards? Re-think holiday spending. How much do you need to spend of your hard-earned money to feel as if you spent enough? Is there a limit beyond your credit card limit that is?
Give yourself or your handy-work rather than another gadget or item of clothing that will get lost, broken or returned in the next few weeks anyway. Do you really remember every gift you got from every loved one your entire life? Or do you remember being together and doing something as a family or bonding with an experience? The holidays provide an opportunity for us to present one another with meaningful gifts. Take advantage of this opportunity.
It’s not the money you spend or the number of cards you address nor the size of the turkey you stuff. It’s the people and the experiences that count. It’s the moments that you will all remember. Think about what stresses you out every holiday season. Then do something about it now before it overwhelms you.
Categories: Evaluating Evaluating, family, guilt, Holiday, pressure, simplify, strategy, Stress, stress eating, surviving holidays, thanksgiving, tradition
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