So, you’ve made it through the year-end crunch and it’s time to hang the closed sign on your office door and take a break over Christmas and New Year. Let your holiday workload begin! There is so much to do – decorating, buying gifts, planning festive meals, preparing food and dealing with family issues that escalate when everyone spends a lot of time together. Putting too much pressure on ourselves over festive season can cause major stress that leads to mental and physical fatigue. The last thing you need is to reach the end of the break feeling more tired than when you shut up shop.
Here are 5 useful tips to help you manage stress and avoid burning out even though your holiday to-do list rivals your one at work:
- Budget wisely
The festive season can be the most expensive time of the year. It is important to budget wisely to avoid a January debt hangover. Decide upfront what your holiday priorities are and then draw up a holiday budget. Categorise festive season expenses, such as gifts, food, special events, travel and everything else, big or small. Once your budget has been set don’t be tempted to throw caution to the wind and spend up a storm. Track your spending and make sure you have sufficient allocated to see you though to the end of January.
- Plan ahead
No matter what holiday plans you have in place, getting organised early will help with stress levels. At the start of your break – or even before – plan your holiday schedule and set aside time to make a list of must-do tasks with deadlines. For example:
- Plan your festive menus in advance.
- Create a gift list rather than selecting gifts on the fly.
- Schedule to do food and gift shopping early to avoid last-minute dashes.
- Plan your outings and make sure necessary bookings are sorted.
- If you’re hosting the family Christmas dinner, preassemble a team to help with prep.
- Spend your time on people and activities you love
Who do you love spending time with and what are your favourite festive season activities? It is important to consider your happiness when planning how you spend your holiday time – and to ask your family what’s good for them, too. Plan to do the things that you really enjoy doing and say no to the things you feel pressured to do. Focus most of your energy and time on people you love and do your best to avoid or limit the time spent with toxic people.
- Schedule “me time”
Keep your schedule flexible and give yourself the gift of regular “me time” over the break. You may feel under pressure to make the holidays the best time for everyone else. It is important to know that it is okay to schedule time for yourself. It is not time-wasting to relax and do nothing but flop out on the sofa in front of the fire, read a book, or take an afternoon nap. Unwinding and taking time for yourself will help to restore your energy and manage stress – and you’ll feel happier.
- Pay it forward
The festive season is about giving. It provides a fantastic opportunity to help others and teach your children about the importance of making a difference in someone’s life. And giving is a win-win. The physical and mental benefits of helping others can be long-lasting, having an impact on both the giver and receiver that goes way beyond the act itself. So find a way to pay it forward this festive season. You could:
- Volunteer your time at a soup kitchen
- Help local charities by contributing to their care packages
- Contribute food to an animal shelter
- Invite someone who is alone to join your festive celebrations
- Donate winter clothes, hats and mittens to a local shelter.
Your support team is your secret weapon
One of the most important means of not burning out over the holidays is to have solid work-life boundaries in place. There is no peace in feeling guilty because you should be working, then working and feeling guilty because you are neglecting your loved ones. Being able to take a proper break is made so much easier if you know that day-to-day business is being taken care of by your support team. This is where having a competent, trustworthy Virtual Assistant can make all the difference. Your VA will make sure that day-to-day work continues, and no opportunity is missed while you take a proper break. So you can return to work in the new year feeling full of energy and ready to take on the world.
