Juggling Christmas and Working at Home?
Wed, Dec 3, 2008
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During the busy holiday season life becomes condensed, more to fit in the same amount of time.
Right about now, many of us working at home are starting to feel the crunch as the big day is quickly approaching.
Business may be busier, much busier, depending on what business you are in.
Home life is always busier, everyone has things to do to prepare for Christmas.
NO ONE WANTS TO MESS UP CHRISTMAS
And inside of it all, we're supposed to be having fun, aren't we?
Like I have to tell you. Many of us don't.
I used to be the quintessential scrooge.
I didn't enjoy the Christmas season one bit.
I was stressed to the max and that sucked the joy right out of.
By the time I got around to the 'good stuff', Christmas was over.
Which actually didn't bother me much because there were plenty of other things to do.
Sad.
For those of you who can relate right now, here is what I have learned.
A FEW TIPS ON ENDURING ENJOYING THE HOLIDAY SEASON
1 – Cut back. Don't take on any last minute 'additions'. If you're already tapped out, don't rock the boat. If it's something you really want to do, plan it in next year. Don't get talked into things that you don't want to do.
2 -Remember the important things and what Christmas is all about. Let your hair down. Remember the human side to us all. Sometimes that's all it takes to make 'one too many things' turn into some fun.
3 – Plan and Do in advance. Starting as early as possible. Of course this is common sense but many of us just don't. Go out of your way to get anything that you can out of your way starting in September.
As a general rule, the more you have to do, the more planning and prep required. Even with our best efforts, sometimes everything just lands together, and the chances of that happening inside of the Christmas season are better than ever. Keep this in mind when you are tempted to put things off because you'll have time 'later'.
4 – Don't assume that you'll have the time. You won't. For some reason we think that time is going to magically appear when we need it. How often does that happen for you?
5 – Get help. Do things with your friends or relatives to make it a little more fun, and to motivate you. Why not plan a shopping trip, a craft or baking session before Christmas – do double duty and have a lot more fun too.
6 – Keep it simple. The simpler the better. Scale down. You don't have to keep up with the Jone's. A small gift given with thought from the heart is 100x better than a large gift given with what everyone else in the room is going to think. They'll forget all about it by the end of the day, if it takes that long. In the home, a few really nice displays are just as good as an entire house decorated from head to foot if you truly like them. In fact, these days many people like simple.
7 – Which brings us to – FOCUS - Take some time to think about what you'd really like to have and do over the season. Want to do a theme for your tree or your kitchen display? Sit down and think about it. Don't just throw everything up because it's there. Love it or get rid of it.
8 – Speaking of themes. Themes are a great way to save time because there is much less decision involved. Want a green theme? You just need to choose green for everything. Or what ever. (OK, my husband wrote that one :0)
8 – Batch process and automate were you can. This is were planning ahead can come in handy. Set up and refine your systems well in advance. You do have systems, right?
9 – Give yourself time. In addition to planning and preparing ahead, be sure to allow enough time for all of the things that you have to do. Otherwise, all the planning in the world won't help you. This may mean cutting back. Better to cut back and enjoy than overload and stress yourself out.
10 – And most of all, don't disrupt your normal schedules. These are the glue that probably have been keeping things together all year, don't let it lose now! It will be VERY tempting to let things go, like exercising, cleaning the house, good nutrition and water intake. But these are the things that give you strength and endurance – the things that will see you through the tough times. Not only that, not doing them will sap your energy because you will FEEL that you are failing, even if you are keeping all of your other balls in the air.
What tips do you have to stay sane over Christmas?
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It took me a long time to be able to enjoy the holidays. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I don’t stress over it, I don’t care what other people think, and our holiday just sort of “happens” and it seems to fall together just right.
I think that attitude would go a long way to cut down on the stress. It seems that worrying about what other people think is a major stresser in all areas of life.
My biggest worry is that I have been so busy during the holidays over the years that the kids have missed out on opportunities like more crafting, decorating, baking etc so I’m figuring better late than never. We usually did do some crafts and decorating but usually too late, too little because Christmas has always been a crazy season for me with my soap biz stuff. This year I either prepared ahead or cut back, making the priority enjoying the short time I have left with the kids a home, they are growing much faster than I ever thought they would.
Personally, New Years is the only holiday that we celebrate that I really look forward to, I’ve never been much for dinners etc. I don’t go out, I celebrate at home and make a tradition of using the evening reflecting on the past year and planning for the new year and thinking about what my main purpose or objective for the year will be – what went wrong, what went right etc. That’s right up my alley! Usually a good movie and some candlelight for ambiance :0)
The holiday season can be very demanding and stressful. This year I decided to take some additional time for myself and spent quality time with my family. Even though things were busy and the kids were running around like crazy, it was a great season. Now back to the grind…Thanks for the great tips, which I think are useful year-round.