De-Stress Your Christmas

With tree number four up and decorated, I have started thinking more and more about the holiday season that is upon us. There are so many people who become stressed rather than comforted by the Christmas season, myself included sometimes. In effort to prevent that from happening this year, I did a little research on the topic as a reminder for myself and for you to take a chill pill and remember why we celebrate. To me Christmas is about celebrating the birth of my Savior, spending time with my loves, and the spirit of giving (even if it's simply baking cookies and gifting those out). Actually, scratch that...nobody wants my homemade cookies! ;)

Anyway, here are some tips and tricks to chillax and enjoy your winter break. Some of these are borrowed from PsychologyToday.com and some are from my little, ole wrinkled brain:

*Be realistic. You know you can't be in two places at once. You (probably) know you can't buy someone everything they could possibly want. And hopefully you are keeping your expectations of the holiday season in check. I have found that if I expect a certain day to be perfect, I am more aware when the day doesn't turn out as I had hoped. Additionally, I'm well aware that I can't afford to buy a ton of people a ton of presents. Being a stay at home mom means that we're living off one paycheck (one that congress keeps trying to delay...ahem) so money can be tight each month. To remedy this, we try to set a budget each year and stick as close to it as possible. Sure, we go over a bit every single time, but tis the season!  The main thing I struggle with in this realistic category is the first one. Because we live so far away from family and friends, when we get to town our time is stretched very thin. It's difficult to fit everyone in. This year, I am going to attempt to not worry about not being able to make this engagement or that. I'm just going to do what my little heart desires and actually enjoy the time off I have with my people back home. There's no need to dwell on and stress little things like that. That's not what Christmas is about at all.

*Be thankful. This is sort of a carry-over from last month, I suppose. It's just so easy to pick out things each day that I'm thankful for. And you know what? When I write them down, I have a better day. I'm going to keep up my blessings list throughout the Christmas season just as a reminder of what all God has given me. There's a pin floating around Pinterest that states, "What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" That's the spirit of thanksgiving that I want to create in my life during the month of Christ's birthday. There are so so many people who are less fortunate than I am. If I can remember this in my lowest moments and choose to focus on a positive in my day, then I'll be doing good. Here's my list from yesterday:



*Exercise. What you say?? Yes, in the midst of all the eating it might be a good idea to get some exercise. Clearly, this isn't one of the suggestions I thought of because I'm still sportin' an extra 3lbs from Baby K. But I think it is a noteworthy tip! The author of Tis the Season emphasizes the importance of self-care during Christmas (and the rest of the year!). The impact that exercise can have on one's mental health isn't lost on me as I have focused on this very notion in research papers past. My senior thesis was on enjoyment and exercise. :) Now, let's see if I can take my own advice!

*Make a list. And check it twice. Ok, I just wanted to write that. You don't have to check it twice. But if you're a list maker, then get to writing! Organize your gift list. Organize your schedule. And maybe your plan is to not plan. You can write that down, too. I've made a list of the things and events that I want to do (on my iphone, of course) and the rest of the break is dedicated to not having a plan. I'm going to enjoy my time at "home" and do what I want when I want. Although it may sound like it, it's not selfish. I'm in charge of only myself (well and Baby K) so in order to keep the stress away, I'm going to focus on what's best for me and what's best for K. Having a visual of the set plans will allow me to see the freedom I have in the un-planned days, too.

I hope these help you. Happy December!

Reference

Mintz, L. (2011, November 30). Tis the season.Psychology Today, Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stress-and-sex/201111/tis-the-season