5 Ways to "De-Stress" the Holidays
By Trish Robichaud, Maximum Life Coach
I challenge you to "de-stress" Christmas and Hanukah
this
year! For any healthy person, the holidays can be a time of enormous
stress. For those of us with a chronic health condition, the
need to make things manageable and realistic is even more crucial.
Contrary to what most people think, November is the best
time to plan for the holiday season. Halloween is over and it's
time to pack up all those plastic pumpkins and fake skeletons.
The way to go is to "kill two birds with one stone".
As you
put the ghouls and goblins in storage, get the holiday decorations
out at the same time! Even if they sit in a box in a corner for
a couple of weeks, they'll be a reminder for you to start your
seasonal planning.
#1. Early November is the time to put
together two pertinent lists: The holiday greeting card list
and the gift list. Systematize & simplify!
Keep both of the lists on the computer, not in your
head! If you keep them in the computer, you can print labels
for envelopes and shopping lists for gift purchasing! If you
keep them in your head, you have to do this task over and over
again every single year — that's insane! :-( Then, every November
all you have to do is review your lists to make any necessary
revisions.
Get the greeting cards in the mail the first week of December.
Rushing to do them the second week of the month will give you
far less time to write personal greetings plus your stress level
will be low enough for you to actually enjoy the task!
#2. Plan your shopping carefully. Do this BEFORE you make
the first purchase. Start by deciding how much you want to spend
on the holidays this year in total. For the sake of round numbers,
I'm going to take $1,000 as an example. Then, take the amount
that you'd like to spend on your spouse and/or children right
off the top. Let's say $400. Then count the number of other
people on your list. Be sure to count people closer to you as
two or three purchases to be realistic — you know that you'll
want to spend more on them. Let's say when you're done you've
counted 20.
$1,000 - $400 = $600, $600 / 20 = $30. Now that doesn't
mean that you're going to make purchases of $29.95 + tax per person.
That means that you'll use $25 as a maximum ticketed amount to
spend on each person. This plan will eliminate the nightmarish
experience of reviewing the credit card bills when they come in
January. With good planning, there will be no surprises and far
fewer stresses around catching up.
#3. Next, get the shopping done early. Don't go to the
malls, they're crowded, horrendous for parking and seriously over-priced.
Check out some of the local seasonal craft shows — best place
to find a unique gift. Try some catalogue shopping or online
shopping. This will seriously cut back on your impulse purchases.
Instead of that useless, mounted singing fish you buy at the
last minute just so you have something to give, buy gift certificates
so that they can take advantage of boxing day sales! WAY less
stressful!
#4. Do decorate the house, but don't do
it all by yourself. Delegate! Everyone can help. I know you want the house to look
perfect for those holiday guests; but you know what? They won't
even notice if you've let the children decorate the tree and the
ornaments aren't exactly spaced evenly! Making a day (or a weekend)
of it with the whole family is what memories are made of. Remember,
this is how your children will remember their holidays when they
have kids of their own.
#5. Keep the cooking simple. Do the basics but don't go
hog wild on the details. If you need to buy cookies and treats
— then buy them! If you have one holiday specialty that you make
because you remember it from your mom making it in your childhood,
then do it, but buy whatever else you can. In the end, the food
gets eaten in twenty minutes flat. Do you really need to spend
six hours or more preparing the meal? Did you know that you can
buy frozen turkeys pre-stuffed? And they are delicious! I've
been married almost twenty years and I've never cooked a turkey
in my life! Ernest buys the pre-stuffed ones, cooks it himself
and we always have a wonderful meal with the kids.
The bottom line is that the holidays are for making memories,
not high blood pressure, family arguments, anxiety attacks, environmental
tension or ongoing distress. Do any of these things sound familiar?
If so, then please choose to "de-stress" for the holidays
this
year! You won't regret it. :-) •
© 2005 Trish Robichaud
About the Author:
Trish Robichaud is a Maximum Life Coach living with multiple
sclerosis. She's grateful to have been blessed with a God-given,
instinctive ability for seeing assets in people and then reflecting
those assets back to them. This enables her clients to confidently
reach for and unleash their full potential.
She facilitates TeleClasses and a monthly TeleSupport
Group at no charge to participants as well as publishes a free
monthly
electronic newsletter. Her background is in business with training
in supportive counselling and life skills facilitation.
Together with her experience advocating for people with disabilities,
this makes her ideally suited to coaching others through their
life and vocational transitions. She can be found on the Web at
www.ChangingPaces.com. 11/12/05
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