1 – schedule some recreation or relaxation time. If you’re the kind of person who powers through their to-do list and then wonders why they’re exhausted, try and take a break. Schedule it into your calendar, whether it’s 30 minutes of exercise, a phone call to a favourite person or even a nap.
2 – take a news break. If you’re feeling hopeless or overwhelmed by world events, try rationing your news intake. Maybe just one bulletin per day – while keeping up to date is important, it’s ok not to listen to it constantly. Change the channel to music rather than news, or if you spend the evening ‘doomscrolling’ on your phone, why not set it to block news sites after a certain time?
3 – give yourself a break! Our society values work, almost above everything else, but you don’t need to follow that damaging mindset. If you don’t feel you can take the whole day or afternoon off, when it all becomes overwhelming, just try closing your eyes for a moment and allow your mind to wander (but not to the rest of the to-do list) It offers your brain a moment to reset itself, and is neurologically really good for us. Best of all, nobody else needs to know!
4 – enforce boundaries. If the thought of going to yet another work do or friends catch up brings you out in hives, remember, you don’t have to do everything! We need to balance social time with our own personal boundaries for optimum mental health.
5 – minimise screen time in favour of human interaction. Research shows that the happiest people are those with meaningful relationships, so go on, next time you’re tempted to hide away on your phone, look up and forge some real connections with people. We feel most fulfilled and at peace when we’re part of a group or an engaging conversation.
6 – find a fresh perspective. Take one Christmas-related task that drives you absolutely mad, and approach it in a different way. For example, if you hate writing cards or wrapping presents, why not invite a friend over to do theirs with you, over a coffee or a cocktail?
7 – be satisfied with 7 out of 10. Not everything has to be a huge production remember! Don’t always go for bigger and better – for example, do you really have to buy new decorations every year? or an 8 course lunch for 14 people??
8 – throw away the shopping list! Yes, really. Instead of buying a mountain of stuff for people, which may gather dust or find itself in a charity shop in the new year, how about an experience instead? Maybe a trip to a show or afternoon tea? (or may we suggest, one of our treatment vouchers here at Body Revive for when we get to that really dreary, cold and wet stage of winter? Just saying…)
9 – drop expensive, high-stress rituals. Is the annual trip to find the “perfect” Christmas tree really worth it? Of course, if it’s something everyone genuinely loves, then of course carry on – families thrive on tradition – but if you end up stressed out, children getting overtired and grumpy and with pine needles just where you don’t want them, why give yourself the stress? Swap it for something you know everyone will like instead, and build a new tradition that way.
10 – focus on what’s most important. Instead of sending everyone in the universe a card, just focus on the ten most important people in your life. Really, if you have no contact with a person all the rest of the year, are they really going to be that upset?
11 – smell a lemon! Yes, really! Researchers at the University of Ohio in the States have discovered that the scent of citrus fruits boosts your mood. So add some to your food (or cocktail), buy a zingy shower gel or a candle.
12 – remember to have fun. When you’re putting up the decorations or making the mince pies, take a deep breath and really savour it, rather than treating it as just another chore on the list. Why not involve the family? New traditions and all that! Remember, stimulate all of your senses – sight, sound, taste, touch and smell.
13 – choose travel-proof gifts. With families being further away these days, there’s bound to be some posting done, or fitting things into suitcases for the journey to see people. To save space and postage costs, try and choose something like a gift voucher, or better still, get the business you’re purchasing from to wrap and send it for you (we’re quite happy to do this for you too)
14 – pack smart. If you’re heading to stay with family for the holiday, and especially if you have little ones, make sure all the PJs and toothbrushes are all in one place. Saves rummaging through everyone’s case when you’re all tired, hungry and grumpy from travelling.
15 – banish as many travel hassles as you can. Make sure the car has petrol, oil, screen wash, tyres pumped up properly, travel tickets are readily available and check for any delays before you set off. Boring, but how annoying is it to have that stuff go wrong at the last minute? Save yourself the stress!
16 – hold onto your existing rituals. It’s so tempting to give up that quiet 15 minutes with a coffee, writing in your journal or whatever it is that you do to chill out when you’ve got people staying, isn’t it? A word of advice – don’t! These are what ground and relax us the rest of the year, and you’re more likely to need them with a houseful of people.
17 – schedule a break. There are so many lovely things to do in our beautiful countryside, so why not take advantage of them? A moonlight trip onto Woodhead to stargaze, a wander around Cannon Hall or a drive around town to look at the Christmas lights – these aren’t expensive or time consuming, and might be just the time-out that you all need.
18 – do something that makes you happy. How about planning something into your schedule, rather than deleting things? Something that really enriches you, though – attending a carol concert with my Mum is ours, something to acknowledge the real reason for the season and and to remember my Nanan? Our spiritual side needs to be honoured as much as every other aspect of ourselves.
19 – request gift wrapping when buying from a department store or use gift bags! I hate wrapping (and sellotape!) If this is you, too, when buying presents, why not ask if the shop offers a gift-wrapping service? Just remember to take some Post It notes with you so you can remember who’s getting what, otherwise you’ll have to unwrap everything and rewrap it when you get home!
20 – stock up on wrapping supplies. If you like wrapping presents, do make sure you’ve got enough of everything before you start, won’t you? There’s nothing more annoying than running out of Sellotape halfway through. Or worse still, gift tags. Do not convince yourself that you’ll remember that Aunt Sally’s are wrapped in the holly paper and Uncle Bob’s has Santa on. You wont!
21 – make a shopping plan. If you do buy presents, please do try and support local small businesses rather than Amazon if possible. It’s vital to their survival and, trust me, no-one at Amazon does a happy dance whenever they sell something.
22 – seek the out-of-the-way cashier. If you’re going to a large shop, the queues at the tills will probably be huge, so why not use that time to find, for example, the customer services department? They’ll probably be much quieter, and able to put through your purchases through in a far more relaxed way.
23 – leave assembly to the experts. Particularly with tech gifts, if there’s some assembly or programming required, why not get them to do it in the shop for you? Even if there’s an extra fee for it, how much time and stress would it save on the day to give it to the recipient all ready set up and ready to go? If it’s a put together at home, make sure it’s not left until midnight on Christmas Eve after Santa’s shot of sherry!
24 – delegate! If you’re hosting this year, don’t try and do it all yourself. Maybe ask sociable uncle to greet people at the door, kids to take coats, partner to sort out the drinks, that sort of thing? Or ask guests to bring a dish each.
25 – stick to the tried and tested. Don’t give yourself the additional stress of trying a new recipe for Christmas lunch! Stick to what you know works, and if you fancy a little change in how you serve the bread sauce (in the bin for me), give it a trial run or two well in advance so you’re able to make it without giving yourself a nervous breakdown in the process.
26 – take advantage of time-savers. While we’re on the subject of food, is it really necessary to make the mincemeat for the home-made mince pies if you don’t really like doing it? We live in a county of food artisans, so if you can, why not take advantage and buy in, instead?
27 – just say no sometimes. Honestly, you don’t have to do everything, go everywhere and host all the parties. It’s lovely to have people to visit and to go out, but as much as you can, why not keep things small and casual? You could host a big blow-out event later in the New Year where you won’t have so many events competing for your time, and how lovely would it be to go to someone’s house for a party in the dreary cold days of February when there’s nothing going on?
28 – go monochrome. For your decorating, an easy way to keep things simple and also stunning, is to choose a colour and go with that only – whatever you like most. Sometimes our eyes have so much to take in with a fully decorated room, that it gets overwhelming to see lots of different colours and textures; not good for our mental well-being at all.
29 – meal prep in advance. This is a great excuse to clear out (read: eat up) what’s in the freezer, make some space and cook things in advance. If you’re trialling that new recipe and it works, instead of serving it for dinner, pop it into the freezer, then you’re all done for the big day itself.
30 – if you’re constantly disappointed with the gifts that your partner gives you, why not just make it easier for you both, and tell them what you want – complete with a picture, where they can buy it from and best of all, a web page link. We know it won’t be a surprise, but nagging, sulking and getting upset aren’t going to change anything, so save yourself the stress, and at least you’ll get a nice present this year! Another idea is to tell us at your next appointment some of your favourite products and treatments and then send them to us. We can work together to get you a lovely surprise that you’re guaranteed to love!