119 How To Actually Enjoy The Holidays

Jingle Bells. I love them Christmas songs, and all the holiday spirit makes me so happy BUT, the holidays can also be such a stressful season. While most of us love all the holiday activities, sometimes they can be overwhelming.

The EXACT things that we planned to do with the intention of making the holidays more enjoyable, can actually turn out to make things much more stressful, and that leads to losing sight of the true meaning of the holidays. So today’s episode is for you if you feel this overwhelm from past holidays and want to enjoy the holidays this year better than the past.

I just took a 2 week vacation off holiday season to avoid crowds. But if you are planning on traveling during the holiday peak season, expect and be prepared for delays. If your flight is delayed or canceled for any reason, what would you be doing? Prepare enough clothing and activities for you and your traveling companions. 

So first off, make vacation time actually vacation time and avoid working at all. Make sure you have scheduled out your social media posts ahead of time, emails can be scheduled, work ahead and let everyone know you will be on vacation. Set those vacation auto replies and enjoy your vacation. 

Before the holidays start, set some rules and limits, use these rules as boundaries for your decision making to keep your holiday sane. You can limit the time you spend with certain people if they make you feel uncomfortable. You can limit the number of activities or events that you will participate in so that you don’t burn yourself out.

Keep things simple, holiday decorations do not have to be a certain way, beautiful  friendships and family relationships can still last a lifetime without extravagant gift exchanging. Years from now, no one will ever remember your food, your decor or your gift, but they will only remember the times that you shared together laughing and enjoying the holidays. Only focus on what’s important! Family togetherness, spiritual enlightenment and camaraderie with friends, these are far more important than the tiny details that are often focused on that drives us nuts. Do less and actually embrace family and friends time more. So keep things simple! 

I always say that my favorite quote is yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present.  If something happened in the past that made your past holidays undesirable, let go of that feeling first. Don’t let past events pre-determine the experience you will have for the upcoming holiday. For example, if you had an unhappy experience with in-laws or other relatives from a past get-together, don’t pre-determine that your experience this year is already ruined. Today is a present, so focus on today, focus on the new you this year because this is a different chapter of your life and you are the author and you get to determine how to write your life story. If the holiday season makes you focus on a painful event from your past, start creating new holiday traditions.

Remember that your Christmas get-together is not a problem-solving working session. Deal with your family issues another time. Do not drown yourself in the negative stories of others. When someone is getting on your nerves, laugh it off, it happens to all of us. Feel free to excuse yourself to a private room or even the bathroom to calm yourself if you feel any overwhelm or anxiety. Close your eyes, take deep deep breaths, and restate your new intention for once you open your eyes. Do this reset for yourself as often as you need to.

You get to live your life the way you want to. Remember that saying no to anybody is ok, telling your parents that you won’t be going over this year is ok. Staying home for Christmas is ok.