Saying Goodbye to Christmas Stress
Yup, it’s that time of the year again – Christmas stress time. Except this year is going to be different, promise! Over the years we have spent the holiday period finessing our survival techniques and now we’re in the holiday spirit (as well as drinking it), let us introduce you to some of our Christmas stress reduction tips.
Tips on Reducing Your Christmas Stress Levels
To keep the stress levels low and retain your sanity, here are a few of our holiday tips to follow:
- Say no – you don’t need to go to every event you’ve been invited to. Choose a few which you’d like to attend and put your apologies in for the others.
- Establish a bedtime routine – as the year end becomes even busier, it’s easy to stay up later in a desire to get things done. The downside of this is that you won’t get enough sleep and will become a grouchy elf no one wants to be with.
- Delegate – you know you don’t always have to do everything for everyone at Christmas time. Choose a few jobs on your to-do list and give them to someone else to do instead.
- Treat yourself – whether it’s a coffee and a movie on Netflix, or simply a quiet walk around the block, please take care of yourself. Self-care is important, and there are no rules to say you can’t buy Christmas presents for yourself! In fact, we’ve got quite a few Christmas presents you might just like…
- Set boundaries – everyone has a family member they don’t want to spend time with, or who always causes an argument over the turkey. Be sure to set clear boundaries in regard to what behaviour is expected – or what you’ll put up with!
- Get outside – sunnier weather has arrived, meaning you need to be spending more time outside in the garden. Take a stroll around your garden and enjoy the hard work you have put in all year. Use this as an opportunity to make some plans about any new trees you want, or which plants are to be transplanted during autumn.
- Do all your shopping online – don’t spend time standing in never ending queues this year. Get smart and do as much shopping online as you can and have it delivered to you or to your gift recipients. There are some great NZ businesses like ours which will take care of the gift presentation, deliver the gifts on your behalf and let you choose the delivery dates – hint, hint…
In all seriousness, Christmas stress is a real issue for most people. We encourage you to take things easy, slow down and enjoy a moment or two of peace (or holiday spirits) during this time.