Finding Joy During The Holiday Season
Between the Christmas concerts at church, work obligations, Christmas get-togethers, and gift shopping, the weeks leading up to Christmas can be a very busy and stressful time for a lot of people. It hurts my heart to see people turn from joy and love for the best time of the year to disdain or almost hatred.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed and rush through your days during the holiday season to just get through it. But I want to challenge you to try a few new thought processes to see if you can bring some joy back into this season of the year.
I hate to break it to you, but it’s not going away. So maybe, just maybe, its worth making a little more enjoyable.
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What Is Your Hangup For The Season
Before we go any further, I want you to stop and think for a minute.
What is your “hang up”? What makes you put the brakes on when the holiday season starts to peek its head around the corner?
- Is it the constant rushing?
- Are you trying to make to many people happy and not leaving any time for the things you enjoy?
- Are you stressed about the bill that comes afterwards, and there is little left to show for it afterward?
Action Item: Get out a piece of paper and ask yourself WHAT is it that annoys my about the holidays. But then ask yourself, what is the deeper reason? If the hustle of all the “shopping” and materialization of the holiday drives you crazy. Ask why.
There are a lot of little simple things you can do to make sure these things don’t happen to you. But here is the thing. You have to want it. If you keep moving forward, “trying” to fix these issues and you still secretly want to keep the chip on your shoulder, then nothing can help you.
But if you’re ready to make sure you can enjoy this holiday season, no matter how busy you are or how much pressure you’re under, keep scrolling.
The Long List Of Tasks Isn’t The Problem
Here is the thing. Its not how much we have to get done that stresses us out. Its how you THINK and feel about those things.
The pressure you put on yourself to get them all done and even making things feel urgent when really you are the one inflicting all these deadlines and todos.
You don’t have to do any of it.
Make a list of what you need to get done today, this week, or before what ever holiday you are preparing for. Prioritize it by order of importance and impact on joy. It should look something like this.
If you are hosting. Then yes, your meal plan and grocery shopping for that meal is important and should be at the top.
But things like having 4 dessert types instead of 2 is an added thing that YOU DON’T have to do. That’s a self-inflicted stress task you don’t have to do.
Once you make your list go back and check it again. Strike out anything you don’t really need to do or add those “bonus” things to a separate list, and when you have a little extra time. You can give time to those things.
It’s amazing how freeing cutting tasks and things out of your life can be. There are a lot of things we do just because we’ve always done them OR we feel like we should.
When you stop and challenge yourself to focus on the important stuff, it becomes much easier to cut out busy work. That in turn greatly reduces the length of our to-do list and with it both the time it takes to get everything done and the stress we’re under.
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Stop And Find The Joy
When you’re busy, it’s hard to notice the fun little things this season has to offer. Challenge yourself to stop at least once a day and “smell the poinsettias”. Ok they don’t smell but you get the idea.
Take a short little break to enjoy a cookie and your favorite cup of coffee.
Spend a few extra minutes when you’re driving home with the kids in the evening and go look at the lights. Walk outside and enjoy the beauty of the frosted ground.
Turn on Christmas tunes, light that candle, put that bright red cozy blanket over the back of the couch. Give evidence to your brain this is a season of joy.
Just stop and have some Christmas fun for a few minutes.
Get Your Own Little Elves
Santa doesn’t do everything on his own, and neither should you. Learn to delegate, preschedule, or optimize operations in your home and business if you have one.
Have your assistant for a couple of jobs, and get the kids to help with cleaning up after dinner, make farm chores a family fun ordeal. Kids want to help if you make it fun and don’t treat it like a punishment.
When you get some help with some of the things you have to get done, you’re freeing up a little time here and there to enjoy the season.
Follow Santa’s example and just like him you’ll find joy in during this busy holiday season. Merry Christmas!
