We have a month to prepare for Christmas. As we all know, Christmas is not all walk in a park experience; sometimes Christmas comes with mixed emotions. The Christmas season is one of the busiest days of the year. Our calendars are as full as our fridge, from the lists we need to buy, people we need to see and greet, hours we need to travel, excitement and expectations, and other loads of festive activities from work-to-friends-to-family-to-relatives-definitely-to-everyone. But, have we ever included ourselves on the list? Now, we ended up forgetting ourselves.
At this time of the year, before we start to think of how much we can give to others let’s think first of ourselves! This isn’t being self-centered; it’s about self-preservation and prioritizing ourselves isn’t bad because this can help us to be more functional during the day.
Christmas demands a lot from us and we tend to overdo things so here are some tips to help us overcome Christmas without feeling obliged to look after them and make everyone happy because this Christmas is our Christmas too!
Be Grateful
This year might be a growing pain or a sinking blues to anybody but one must be grateful. There is this positive avalanche that reflecting to one’s self can help us boost our Christmas mindset to have a more blissful outcome. Being appreciative of simple things can make us feel that life may be unfair but what has made us continue our life is a reason to cheer ourselves for the upcoming days.
Know-How To Declutter
Having much extra stuff on our office table to our home is another way to put on our efforts. To clean and organize our stuff is the best way to get rid of things that we seldom use. Decluttering before Christmas is one way to cleanse our innermost. Living in a minimalist way or having a capsule-wardrobe helps us to become more conscious of the things we have and shouldn’t have, to buy and shouldn’t buy. Also, creating extra space at home is a delight to help our visitors feel free to move and comfortable to walk during Christmas visitation.
Know-What To Give
We know that Christmas is all about giving and exchanging. Perhaps, we tend to wrap things without even thinking if those things can benefit the person or might end up to dump the same thing on the tenth box of their scarves. Sometimes, we feel forced to buy because we don’t want to be scrooges to let our kids have a new thing for Christmas or being able to give our friends an exchange of what they have gotten. If we can’t afford it, we ended up stressing ourselves and getting into debt. We should be avoiding this practice, knowing money is hard-earned, and we need to be practical on which we’ll be spending the rest of our extra pay.
Learn To Say ‘No’
Christmas comes with bundles of sweets and invitations therefore we should learn to say no to anything that doesn’t feel like we need to be present at parties, at all times, and at all costs. We tend to say yes to the 20th invites before and during Christmas because we can’t let go of the guilt attached to it and end up throwing hundreds of coins to a colleague’s children’s party of which we are not related to. Remember, we have our personal needs, for spending extras, for staying in, and not to build high expectations of ourselves. This time, we will be making wiser decisions based on what we feel and desire to keep us healthy and grounded.
Give Yourself A Gift
Have you tried to treat yourself before Christmas? I’ll try to treat ourselves before the 25th because giving yourself permission to buy a new pair of shoes, plan a short trip, taking a new course, or simply enjoy a cup of coffee and a hot pancake outside is another way to reconnect to yourself before spending too much for others.
Be Healthy
This is a constant reminder though sometimes we violate it a million times because Christmas food is way different from our daily meal so we tend to eat such large quantities unconscious of calories and carbohydrates. During Christmastime, it is easy to be overwhelmed with food and drinks. We are aware of the fact that we deserve to eat extra. After all, we worked extra even so; we also need to consider our blood sugar because we are not getting younger to take the extra challenge in the hospital.
Disconnect From Social Media
Before Christmas, we try to greet our friends, workmates, relatives, and others in advance. Remember, we are not obliged to give presents; we don’t need to be giving to be appreciated. The quality of your relationship does not define the value of what we can give. We don’t need to spend to greet, anyway, we can make a Christmas template that can be personalized and send it to their personal emails or social media accounts. This way, we wouldn’t miss anyone because we have already greeted them before all of us will get busy during the day. After that, let’s try to disconnect and focus on ourselves and the people around us. There is no ‘Perfect Christmas’ on social media, people will only be posting the best snippets of what they have. Let’s try to have room to be present for ourselves in a while and enjoy the things we have and the place we are.
