The Hustle of the Holidays
What is it about the holidays that stresses us all out? Depending on the person, it could range anywhere from high expectations to money to family matters. All we can conclude is that it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but often times it can be the most stress-filled time of year. A time when we should all be settling down to reenergize for a new year, we are scrambling to fit a societal mold.
For many, myself included, the stress of the holidays can make us feel overwhelmed and take away from all the fun. There’s this precedent that everyone has to be happy all the time around the holidays. But in reality, the endless list of things to do, people to see, things to be grateful for can cause a complete overload emotionally and physically.
The way stress effects the human body is different for everyone. For some, stress can manifest into literal pain and take a physical toll. It’s not something to brush off or push through. Taking care of your body and soul is the best way to give back to others.
Ways to Reenergize
- Take Time for You: This bit of advice might be my number one, go-to tip to surviving hard times. It’s something small that many of us tend to overlook. We fill our lives with things to do for others and expectations we set for ourselves and in the process we forget to take care of ourselves. Taking time for you is truly the best thing you can do for yourself during the holidays. If you aren’t feeling your best, the quality of the things you do will suffer, and at that point is it really even worth doing?
- Spread Things Out: Spreading everything out isn’t always an option the way certain things fall, but its always worth your best effort! I like to try and spread out my holiday shopping. I start collecting things as we enter the second half of the year and try to take advantage of sales as they occur. It’s easier on me and my wallet to spread it out!
- Make Goals: We all know the goal is to have everything done by Christmas, but setting smaller, tangible goals for yourself is the best way to get past the one big deadline. Set a date to decorate the house, have all the presents bought by a certain weekend, get everything wrapped the week before or whatever you can think of to break up the work. If you make these goals and stick to meeting them, the holiday season can be much more fun because you’ll be able to breathe!
- Make Lists: I am a chronic list maker. I love making lists. Getting things done and then checking them off is one of the most rewarding and reenergizing feelings in the world. When I start making lists, I start out with one for what’s on my mind. Just spill it all out onto the page and out of my mind. From there, I try to reorganize it. Seeing all of the thoughts and projects swirling around my head on paper helps me prioritize and get things done.
- Remember Why We Do It: Just like anything we struggle to get done, one of the best motivators in life is remembering why we do the things we do. This year has been a particularly hard one for everyone. If reminding someone that you care is all you can give this holiday season, then do your best to let them know! Give what you can and appreciate those around you. Even if these times are hard, they’re times that we’ll never get back.
What We Do at FriendsOffice
Our “Better with Friends” motto goes further than just making sure we provide unparalleled results to our customers. It extends to our employees, as well, in that we want them to feel like working at FriendsOffice is an important part of their career. We try to organize office-wide challenges for everyone to participate in that are not only fun, but that work on bettering overall health and wellness at the office. Over the summer we did a “Steps Challenge” that encouraged everyone to get out and walk while the weather was nice! At the end, there were a few awards given out and a Taco Party to celebrate!
We try not to overwhelm anyone with activities, so after a short break we started another challenge this holiday season. We called it the Holiday Hustle! Our Programs Manager, Jamie Basey, described the challenge for me.
“Each day we set a health and a wellness challenge as an option. Do ONE of those challenges. Take a picture or a screen shot of you doing your challenge activity. If you want to do MORE than one challenge, go for it! I keep track of what challenges people complete on a google spreadsheet and prizes are awarded at the end! If a participant doesn’t want to do a challenge, I attach their local Ronald McDonald House Wish List so that they can bring in a canned good for donation.”
Our Holiday Hustle ends December 1 with a feel-good, socially-distant Cookie Party! No one is required to participate, but we all love celebrating the fact that we committed to a challenge, together. And with all the fun we’re having this month, who knows what we’ll do next!
Whatever you do, we hope you take the time to reenergize throughout the holidays!
Other Sources
For more tips on how to reduce stress and reenergize, check out “6 Simple Ways To Get More Energy Today.”