executive business coach

My “secret” for beating the Holiday Stress

That is my scaled down Holiday to do list.  It started out about twice as long.  Not only do I have the fun Holiday activities, I’m also trying to close out my end of the year sales and stretching to reach my goal.  And I really want it all done by December 20th so that when all 5 boys are home and crazed up on Christmas excitement that I can unplug and craze with them!  I LOVE this time of year, and if I am not careful it can quickly become EXTREMELY stressful!

So I want to share with you my big “secret” to beating the holiday stress.  Are you ready for it?  I just don’t stress.

If we skip the Church Christmas Party, we skip it.  If I only get half of my decorations up, so be it. If I don’t bake for the neighbors then I’ll take them cookies at Valentine’s Day.  If we can enjoy our Anniversary more by celebrating in January, we do that.  

I have a very low key approach to the Holidays.  Really all I want to create is fun, meaningful connection with my family.  And if I get so wrapped up in everything being perfect, quite often nothing is fun.

About 7 years ago I learned this lesson on Easter weekend.  We had 3 little kiddos.  1 was a baby.  We had just moved into a new house, my husband was working like 85 hours a week.  He literally came home slept for a few hours, went to his job, then slept in his car for a few hours before his second job.  I was determined to create the perfect Easter.  On Saturday I dyed eggs with the kids.  We read stories about Easter.  I took them to an activity for kids at the Library.  On Sunday morning I didn’t let the kids touch their baskets until their Dad got home from work.  I made him stay up to watch the kids hunt for eggs and then he went to bed.  I made a big breakfast that no one ate.  I spent the day cooking a big Easter feast and then we took the kids to church.  At the time we had church from 2-5.  My husband came home early to get some sleep and I told him to throw everything in the oven and turn it on.  We got home and the oven had not been turned on.  There was no Easter feast.  There was one stressed out mom who was so exhausted from trying to create the perfect holiday that she missed the whole spiritual celebration of Easter.  And there were 3 kiddos who would have been just has happy with ¼ of the effort. Most of what we stress about this month is self-inflicted and will be completely forgotten in a month.  For more details you can visit here : amy walker consulting.