Do the holidays stress you out? They don’t have to!
So many times that stress can lead to over eating, over drinking, over spending, and under sleeping. None of these are good for your health, or your fitness journey.
Every December I run a stress free holiday support group, and we are wrapping up this Monday. I decided to send out the 5 best things we learned, so that everyone might have a better holiday season:
1 ) Just Say No! Seriously you are not obligated to be at EVERY holiday event, volunteer for every fundraiser, attend every nieces school holiday concert, bake for every cookie exchange, go to every holiday party, host a white elephant, and fit in that one off wine glass decorating party. JUST SAY NO.
Figure out what your highest priorities are this season, and honor those, and those only. One of my favorite quotes is “It’s easy to say no to things, when you know what you are saying yes to” and it that simple. Decide what is right for you, and your family, and say no to absolutely everything else. These are your holidays too.
2) Keep Your Healthy Routine. This came up time and time again. Keeping a routine of your bed time, your workouts, your water drinking, meal prepping and more, actually reduces stress. It might seem like you “don’t have time” or “are too tired” to deal with it, but it has been proven that having routine takes less mental energy, and creates more time. Hanging on to this can make a world of difference.
3) Manage Your Expectations. Disappointment, and frustration, live in the space between between reality and expectations. You expect A and you get Z, B-X is pain, sadness, self doubt ect. You won’t likely be able to change reality, BUT you CAN adjust expectations.You have control over this!
If your Mother-in-Law hasn’t approved of your cooking for 11 years, don’t look for it this year, because it’s not coming. If you know that your Uncle will be drunk, your spouse is going to miss the mark on your gift, and your kids will inevitably act like a total jerk after you drop a ton of money, expect that. If it happens to go better, you’ll be elated, if not, you’ll get exactly what you thought you were going to get and feel just fine 😉
4) Don’t Over-give. Seriously, on top of not over-giving your time, reign in the gifts. This is not a contest for who can spend the most, or who can have the highest number of gifts. People will not remember how much something cost, or that obligatory gift set you got at checkout because you just “couldn’t forget so-and-so”. They will remember you stopping, being present, listening to them, asking questions about their year, hugging them tightly, without mentally being somewhere else. Obligation will never replace connection, skip that trap.
5) Don’t Dive into Family Drama. Toxic people, old wounds, comparing yourself to others, and all the crap that comes up when seeing family, are always a choice. ALWAYS. If you drudge all this up, or play the “who is the better sister?” game, nobody will win. Some people are just negative and will never have anything good to say about anything, or anyone. That has NOTHING to do with you, unless you decide to dive in and add fuel to the fire.
It sucks your father was an a$$ when you were 8, guess what, he’s probably still that guy, but YOU are not 8. You have grown and changed, and regressing is not going to serve you at all. Own your self worth, these are just people, that happened to come out of other people, who you happen to know. They decide nothing about what you are worth, ever. I recommend listening to a lot more personal development this week.
After running this group for the past 5 years, it really is this simple, these really are the top tips to make it through! Simple doesn’t mean easy, but I know you can do it. Wishing you a stress free holiday season <3