Look at your calendar. I bet it's pretty full. It seems like you can pick any day between Halloween and New Years and find it crammed with holiday to do's. Everything from planning Thanksgiving dinner to Christmas shopping, decorating, family get togethers, holiday parties... not to mention the rest of everyday life. Dinner, laundry, school, work - it's no wonder that this time of year can be incredibly stressful. But it doesn't have to be. With a few easy tips you can have stress free holidays, where you make memories, enjoy your family, and stay healthy too.
Your Roadmap to Stress Free Holidays
Set Limits
With so many obligations around the holiday season it is easy to feel like you're being pulled in a million directions at once. Setting limits is the number one way you can take control and reduce your stress. Set appropriate limits that you can live with and still enjoy your holiday - maybe it is the amount of traveling you will or won't do. Or the number of gifts that you'll be giving (use my printable Want, Need, Wear, Read Christmas list to help kids with this). Or how many parties you'll attend. Deciding your limits and adhering to them will help you navigate the holidays with ease.
Adjust Your Expectations
I can't make a pretty gingerbread house to save my life. But we have a blast making one every year, no matter how lopsided it turns out. Adjusting the attitude that everything around the holidays needs to be picture perfect is a huge win towards having a stress free holiday. Focus on experiences and time spent with your family instead of perfection and you will greatly lighten your load.
Set a Budget - and Stick to It
Money is a huge stressor during the holiday season (and in January when the bills arrive). Set a budget for everything that you have planned: gifts, travel, meals, etc. and stick with it. If you have a hard time resisting the pull of credit cards, use cash. Again, focus on experiences instead of material things and you'll feel much less pressure.
Plan Ahead
If you want to feel less stressed and more in control, make a plan. Get organized with a calendar so that you don't miss important events and use a to do list to keep track of what you need to accomplish. Use my printable Christmas planner for all the checklists and planning pages you could need!
Maintain Your Healthy Habits
Holiday stress happens when we get overwhelmed and don't take care of ourselves. Amidst everything you need to do this time of year, you need to make sure that you don't neglect the habits that keep you healthy and feeling well. Be sure to get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, and balance all those Christmas cookies with healthy vegetables and lean protein. And my secret weapon for wellness: fill any nutritional gaps with Nature Made® vitamins & supplements.
I can easily pick up my Nature Made® essentials when I am shopping for all my other holiday supplies at Walmart - making it easy to get what I need in one trip, and with Walmart's everyday low prices I can stock up and still keep my budget under control.
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Nature Made® is the #1 Pharmacist Recommended brand for many key dietary supplement categories*. Nature Made® has a variety of vitamins, minerals and supplements (VMS) to help support nutritional gaps with your health goals in mind ranging from Digestive Support, Heart Health & Function, Energy Metabolism, Women’s Health and much more!†
I personally make sure to take my Multi for Her gummies every day (they are super yummy too) along with a Stress B Complex for energy production and immune system support. Nature Made® vitamins and supplements: An easy, convenient way to help your body get the nutritional support it needs every day, whether it be to support bone health, immune health or energy metabolism (helping convert food into energy).†
It's one way that I can help ensure that I am taking care of myself so that I can feel good and take care of everything else!
*Based on the 2016 U.S. News & World Report – Pharmacy Times Survey.
†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease.”
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