It’s that time of year again where most of us are gearing up for Christmas and the end of the calendar with all the excitement and stress that brings.
Work can play a big factor in making the coming weeks feel hectic, so I want to share my ideas for simplifying November and December.
My goal here: help you arrive at Christmas and the end of the year with some energy left for celebration, rather than feeling desperate to collapse on the couch.
Yes, we’re close to the end of the year, but it’s not too late to agree to a simpler Christmas and holiday season.
A key question to ask yourself is: What’s the most stressful part and what’s one thing you could change about it?
For me, it’s decorating the house. I love the idea of our house looking like those perfectly decorated places in magazines, but that’s not quite realistic, because I don’t have the supplies, skills or time. But I care about having our home look festive, so what to do? I’ll commit to focusing only on our favourite and most used living spaces and leave the rest as is.
Maybe gift giving creates stress for you? Could you agree (as a family or amongst those you gift to) to limit gifts to a certain amount or just a single item per person?
Or is it the food and preparing elaborate meals over the holidays? How could you simplify that?
Okay, okay, I hear you say, but what does work have to do with it all?
Well, chances are that most of you are working right up to the holidays, finishing on December 24th – breathless.
So let’s focus on work for a minute: what has to happen in your job so that the coming weeks are more manageable, leave you time with your loved ones and to do whatever it is you do leading up to Christmas?
- What events (Christmas parties etc) will you say yes to? What’s a clear no?
- What deliverables need to be completed before Christmas and how could you finish them ahead of time?
- Will you free up space in your calendar to think about 2025 and plan the first quarter of the new year?
November and December don’t need to be madness. Between end of quarter and end of year deadlines, Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities, New Years Eve and other occasions on your calendar, it can feel overwhelming.
But you still have time to take control of what those next two months will look like.
Whether it’s limiting the gift budget, simplifying the Christmas menu or saying no to the 3rd Christmas party invite, I encourage you to find ways to maintain your sanity and inner peace and move through the next few weeks with more room to breathe and be.
It will help you return to your job with fresh energy in the new year, too.
Have a great week!
Eva