Slowing it down
It’s that time of the year again – you walk into any store or mall and a barrage of Christmas decorations, gifts and sweets assault your eyes. There are less than 6 weeks left until Christmas. Yes, you read that correctly. Cue horror music.
From here on, until 25 December, it is a madhouse of new clients, a revival of spirits in the existing clients (mainly in the bum, tum and arm areas), planning for year-end functions, attending year-end functions, planning Christmas parties, buying gifts, stressing about gifts, food shopping, planning for the next year…. And on and on it goes. If thinking about that doesn’t give you a panic attack, please let me know whatever you are taking because I need some of that.
Other people probably have better ways of coping with this, but I normally just squeeze my eyes shut and pray it’ll all be over soon. Much the same way I cope with rollercoasters. Although this seems to work, it does have that added drawback of wishing your days over. This year it hit me pretty hard when I realised that I was preparing myself, yet again, to wish away two whole months of the year. I was shocked and appalled, because frankly, life is too short to wish any of it over. So I will aspire not to do that this year. (Whether or not I succeed, is another blog article.) This year I will try to enjoy the holiday season, and try to slow it down so it becomes a positive experience.
So if you also suffer from end-of-the-year Loseyourminditis, I will share my practical steps for slowing life down. Please sign the indemnity form, because I do not have any real experience in this and if you should get hurt, that’s all on you. Here goes.
- Prioritise – You are only one human being. You cannot do everything. Do what is important to you and what makes you happy.
- Keep perspective – (Probably) Nobody will die if you do not have the most perfect holiday season ever, or if you do not get around to seeing or pleasing everybody.
- Realise you cannot control everything – some things in life are just not up to you. Deal with it.
- Count your blessings – This is after all the time to appreciate what you have in your life. Counting your blessings also helps you to focus on what is important to you.
- Do not compare – No matter how hard you work, worry or frenzy, somebody else will always have a better holiday spot, nicer gifts, more clever ideas etc. So …
- Do what makes you happy (within reason) – Reason being, not overcharging your credit card so you have to pay off on it for two years. See point no.
I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and blessings for the new year. Take care of yourself
M
