5 tips to NOT get snowed under this December
Unpopular opinion: I used to love December, until I became self-employed.
Actually, correction - I used to even love November (my birthday month!), so December was just a natural follow-on. Fairy/Christmas lights everywhere, warming ginger tea in the day, and spicy mulled wine in the evening. Sunrise and sunset I get to see without being up at 4am (or 10pm!), frosty morning runs.
December used to have a feeling of winding down - there was something wonderfully primal about it for me, like getting ready for hibernation, taking time to reflect, re-adjust and refresh.
However, as a business-owner, my life has changed so very much - my time, while more my own than ever before, also carries the pressures of everyone else I work with. The expectations of stakeholders, or project deliverables, marketing plans or budget forecasting, while perfectly familiar to me, are now solely between the client and me - not a team of 30, and 4 managerial sign-offs.
And I am finding, more than ever before, that the arbitrary finality of December really gets to people - I’m seeing a huge increase in last-minute pushes (‘do you have time next week to get this extra project done?’), plenty of ‘let’s get this finished before end of year’, and lots of ‘is the 2023 planner finished?’
Anyone else seeing this? That jittery, nervous energy is one of my least favourite feelings, and I am feeling it seep into my everyday reality at the moment, permeating all I do, becoming this constant, high-pitched, unnerving noise in my head.
Is this the real life? Is it just fantasy? Or is it being in charge of every aspect of your business, your life, your family Christmas seating arrangement, the Book Club, the whole family’s wishlist, all while trying to SOMEHOW keep getting some exercise/fresh air, not forget to eat or drink water, oh yeah, and never ever let a single client deadline fall through.
Anyone else feeling this?
Well, I hope it’s only me, but I have a feeling it isn’t. According to my fresh-hot-off-the-press Instagram poll (and you know those are as good as a research paper 😉), a lot of you are feeling either simply ‘stressed’ or even ‘like you could cry’.
Fortune favours the prepared, so here come my 5 top tips to help you NOT get snowed-under this December…
list, list, list - to do list, shopping list, best films to watch list
I love a list. Quelle surprise, a Business Support Specialist who loves a to-do list! I know, I know… but I swear by them. Did you know our brains are not designed to try and retain all the information that modern society is throwing at us? Become your brain’s best friend, stop the overwhelm simply by not trying to remember everything, all the time, off by heart.
Instead, write lists - all the lists. Use simple categories like ‘shopping for the week’, ‘presents for my family’ vs ‘presents for friends’. Yes, you’ll have a lot of lists, but you’ll also tick them off much faster. And you know that little dopamine kick you get when you tick off a to-do list is like nothing else!
STOP doing everybody else’s work.
How dare I, that’s not what you do at all - you’re just so good at juggling a million organisational aspects of December that it’s best you just get it all done, because other people will take too long / mess it up / won’t get it quite right / insert another excuse to not let go
You know what? Let it go. Now you have all your lists, hand them out - partner, brother, friend, auntie - whoever you have, hand them a list and tell them to pitch in. Don’t ask - tell them.
Maybe it’s easy for me to say, but it’s only because I’ve gotten fed up of it over the years and I’ve pushed back - after all, you’re just as human as the rest of them and yes, you CAN DO ALL THE THINGS - just not ALL AT ONCE.
Don’t be sold on the craze
Sorry to break the spell for anyone, but Christmas is just 2 bank holiday weekends. If you’re taking solid time off, like I am, I’m happy for you - you do what feels good for you. But please please please treat every sentence containing the word ‘should’ as a red flag. ‘I should get all these decorations up’, ‘I should get all this cooking done’, 'I should take the kids to Santa’s Grotto, and Santa on a float through town, AND the lantern parade’… maybe you should, maybe you could, maybe you will. But this is your reminder that you DON’T HAVE TO.
BREATHE - if at all possible (if you’re still reading!) - breathe. Did you know that sitting in front of a laptop / screen when working can actually cause you to develop shallower breathing? And shallow breathing is your body’s symptom of stress, so you can, in fact, trick your body into thinking you are stressed… when you’re not! 🤯 Due to long hours in one sitting position you can end up slouching, neglecting good posture - we hike our shoulders up high, round our backs, and breathe very high, shallow, ‘lungs only’ breaths - rather than letting our abdominals do the work.
Long, abdominal breathing (look up 4-2-6 breathing) can soothe our system, it will lower the cortisol levels and switch off the stress response. So stand up once in a while or practice a bit of mindful breathing whenever you find yourself going into breathing autopilot!
STOP, DROP, ROLL - last but not least…
Stop the overwhelm
By dropping the weight of expectations
and roll around in the simple joys
Joy is simple - for me, joy is snuggling up on the sofa with the cats, under 2 blankets. Joy is green tea, brewed right, with a slice of lemon. Joy is the weight of expectations off my shoulders.
Joy is knowing that whatever I manage to do this holiday season, is enough - because January will roll right around, overnight, and we’ll just carry on as we did before. The last thing I want, for me and for you, is to have to enter the New Year burned out.
Wishing you some peace, whatever shape that comes in! 🎄
If you enjoyed reading and think you and your business can benefit from my insights - get in touch!
