Does the hustle and bustle of the holiday season make you feel like a Grinch? Every holiday season seems to get busier and more hectic, but this year has six fewer shopping days to get everything accomplished. All of this rushing around can suck the joy out of the season if you let it. Here are 5 tips to help you find peace during the busiest time of the year:
- Reframe your thoughts: Instead of looking at your endless list of people to buy for and holiday gatherings as a chore, change the ways you look at these things. Each person on your list is a person who (hopefully) brings you joy during the year. Feel blessed that you have so many loved ones in your life. Instead of dreading each holiday party, look at these as opportunities to reconnect with old friends and bask in the festive spirit. Plus, it’s one fewer home-cooked meal you have to prepare. There are many people without presents to buy or parties to attend who would trade places with you. If we change our thoughts about our holiday activities, we will have more joy in our hearts each day.
- Cut down your “to do” list: Are there some party invitations you can decline? Do you really need to make that wreath or gingerbread house from scratch? Look at your “to-do” list and mark what is required and what is optional. If the tasks are optional and aren’t things that add to your holiday joy, mark them off the list.
- Recharge your battery: You should continue to do the things you do that help you find peace and reduce stress during the rest of the year. For a lot of us, when we get busy, we stop taking time for ourselves. You need these things more than ever. So take that bubble bath, watch your guilty pleasure TV show or keep journaling.
- Make sure to exercise and sleep: Sleep is often the first thing to go when we are busy. However, our bodies need rest to do all that we have before us. And sleep helps ward off illness, which will really slow you down. Exercise is important for a variety of reasons. Exercise helps us to get the sleep we need, relieves stress, elevates our mood, and burns off all of those tasty gingerbread men.
- Make new traditions: Instead of buying and wrapping presents for everyone at work, could your office pull that money and donate to a local cause such as Books for Keeps? This tradition helps everyone to have less to do as well as spread some holiday kindness. Or TIVO some Christmas classics and curl up with some hot cocoa. New traditions can bring more joy to the season and create positive feelings that can be contagious.
By the end of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” the Grinch had changed his perspective and realized that the joy of the holidays can make your heart grow. Dr. Seuss writes, “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." With intentional positive changes, you, like the Grinch, can find the holiday spirit.
Kim Turner is a School Counselor with the Clarke County School District, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Highlands Affiliate. For more information, go to http://www.kimturnerlpc.com/
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