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Simplify To Ditch Holiday Stress

Jordan N. — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 23:31:57 +0000

Holidays can be stressful for some people. Who can resist the hustle and bustles of the December festivities? But what if you can do something to lessen the stress of this beautiful season? Would you leap to simplify and ditch holiday stress? With over-the-top gift-giving expectations, endless shopping errands, and chaotic family gatherings–holiday stress can accumulate quickly. This season, simplify your holiday prep and permit yourself to let go of unnecessary stress by trying viable strategies that will save you time and energy. Impact of Simplifying During the Holiday This post is primarily written for moms who want to minimize stress during this time of the year. You may think I’d instead do more than be bland, and it’s not about that. When you simplify things, you already know and feel a breath of relief thinking of a holiday to-do list cut down to a minimum. You regain control of the household or free up calendar days to relax. You may find more time for a couple of nights in because you don’t have to go anywhere. The core of reconnecting with the people most important to us becomes the center point of celebrating the holidays. Come Back to Enjoying The Holiday Thinking about the holidays, moms tend to cringe over the preparations. Let’s turn it around, shall we? Let’s get in the holiday spirit without breaking our backs and dragging our heels around town. Getting stressed over this time is expected. No one says you can’t be stressed or feel it down to your bones. But let’s focus on how to enjoy the holiday without adding to our already stressed-out mom life. Beautiful moments are out there for grabs without overcomplicating things. Ten Ways to Simplify The Holiday and Ditch the Stress Stop overbooking yourself. Prioritize. Ask yourself if this is worth your energy and time. Skip a Christmas event? Do you get joy in doing more and more activities for the sake of holidays? Pick the top activities you want to partake in with your family and stick to them. When overbooking the December calendar, the power to intentionally reconnect might not happen. Instead, you or your family end up drained and stressed out for being everywhere instead of lavishing these times on three or four great holiday activities. Order what you need 1-2 months prior. If you think your menu will be the same for the Holidays, you already know what to get. But on perishables, this isn’t the number to read. I’m talking about food ingredients that you can store. So you don’t go out last-minute shopping when holidays can extend check-out lines. Also, what about presents? Now we’re digging deeper into getting ready for what to buy for kids if you plan on multiple presents under the tree. Order the gifts ahead of time; most likely, your kids had been hounding you about it five months ago. Waiting until the last minute might cost you more, such as hiked-up prices and shipping costs; worse, the item might be available later. Nothing like a good sale on an item when you can get them in the summertime for December presents if that’s you go for it. Plan accordingly and get ahead of the game. Say no to frazzled gift shopping. Use ready to put together meals. If you don’t have time to make food from scratch, by all means, don’t. However, don’t open that can if it makes your stress level skyrocket. You can buy already pre-planned, pre-packed ready-to-cook items for holiday dinner. You can even order your food from your local stores or even the neighbor down the street whose food advertising her service. Christmas cookies? Making them down to the last details from scratch is fun with the kids. However, it’s still fun to get them ready to bake cookie dough and go all out on decorating those cookies with them. Instead of making five different Christmas cookies, ditch the stress, and you may have to cut down on one or two to simplify the holiday baking. Stay focused on what you can accomplish and enjoy holiday cooking/baking time. Say no to clutter. Cut down on Decor. Is it time to clean and declutter again? Maybe or not. Once you decide on your theme for the Christmas Decor, you may purge out your Christmas boxes full of decorations from the past holidays. I’m all for saving decorations if I know I’ll use them yearly. We’ve only got three themes going for the last 13 years since our son was born. A traditional red/green/gold theme, pink/blue, and silver theme for when our children were born that year. The tabletop decorations, the wreath, and the Christmas ornaments stayed about the same in circulation. And guess what? You can have the same tree year after year – if you don’t use real Christmas trees. Talk about saving. Unless you plan on spending more and gathering more decorations, you don’t need to buy a whole Christmas theme every year. Instead, you may change the ribbons or some look. Less clutter, less stressful. Fewer decorations to store, less stress. Reset the Gift Giving. The joy of giving comes from the giver. The person who gives feels the pleasure of sharing. If you feel that this year may be a bit tight on finances, there isn’t a significant rule that you give to everyone in the family, relatives, friends, and more. When money is an issue in a household, you may feel guilty about not giving to everyone. But, at the same time, you don’t want to incur debts to provide a gift. When you are stressed about what to buy, who to buy for, and where the money will come from. Stop. Get some fresh air. Even if you don’t buy everything for everyone, you still honor them for not getting worked up and stressed about all of these. Secret Santa can be a great one to do. Pick one name in the group and place the unnamed gift together with everyone’s gifts. Check out the rules of Secret Santa. So, if the gathering group is 20-plus people, it may be hard to dive in and buy 20 gifts for everyone on a tight budget. You decide how you’re going to do the gifting. Be practical and take control of the stress of giving. If you are still in the spirit of giving, you may have to plan to save for it. For example, you are cutting costs on extra things and saving that money to buy for someone. Related Posts: Holiday Gift Guide for Learning Toys December Family Bucket List Be present. It’s natural for everyone to get all festive and spread cheers everywhere. If you want to do that, be present. Not just for the sake of holidays, as I’ve said, but for the connections, you are trying to make. It’s for the moment to treasure and not for picture-perfect holiday photos only. Kids will ask you to do more for them, especially during these holiday breaks. You may feel touched out after all the holiday preparations and invites. Please take a moment and rethink what my kids remember about the holidays when they’re grown. The mom is running around tirelessly doing everything, or the mom who sat and engaged with them in a burst of time or moment. Meet their need for reconnections, and the tantrums may send that signal – it may be time to slow down and be present. Quality time over things and extra stuff – wins all the time. Return to Traditions you love. Having newer ideas to do during the Holidays can make you feel like you’re really into it. Being merry and bright. However, doing the family traditions, your family loves to do every year can be as magical as a new one. This year, your kids are one year older. So they can participate in the traditions you’ve shared from past generations. Older traditions may need to be readjusted or skipped if they don’t apply to your family anymore (after consideration). Your family traditions are yours. If you opt to include some of your childhood traditions, let it continue if it’s not adding more work for you. Find newer ones that simplify and represent your family – the traditions that value your family celebrations. It’s about bringing the family together to celebrate and memory stamping to enjoy. Remember What Matters. Family matters. You. Your Spouse. Your kids. Each member of the family matters. It may also extend to relatives and friends. Getting together for a simple celebration is what family connections stem from. It doesn’t have to be extravagant for it to happen. Sharing a meal with the people you love is what matters. The joy of the holidays can be overshadowed by the weight of the stress hanging over your shoulder. Simply, remember what matters. Check on your Stress Gauge. As for moms, it’s always good to check your stress level. You can tell when something is getting out of hand or too much to handle. Step back and reassess your priorities. Get some suggestions and accept help when needed. You may have to decline some holiday invites or may do a virtual one for relatives who are far and not travel this year. Do what brings you joy this holiday season. Say yes to the priorities you’ve set on Operation Holiday. Say no to the ones that may add up to the stress gauge and bust it all up. Your emotions are also an excellent giveaway to your current stress level. Stop unrealistic Holiday Expectations. Simply lower the expectations around this time of year. There’s too much to do if you love the holidays, and nothing is wrong with that. Yet most times, you don’t want to get tangled with all the chaos that comes with it. It’s time to reflect on what makes your life simpler. You don’t have to hop on a comparison train. It’ll suck the joy out of you for not meeting those expectations. Do what your family loves, what you can do, and nothing more. Enjoy the cheers and happy feelings around the home. Breathe, ditch the holiday stress! There isn’t one way to fix all holiday stress. Yet, you can minimize the impact of getting riled up during this festive season. Adjustments on your holiday calendar can make a difference once you’ve freed up some space to be present. You can swap some holiday activities to do a much simpler one and still be able to engage with the whole family. It will be to enjoy a lot more during the season and lower the stress around you. You don’t have to put much pressure on yourself to meet expectations around the holidays. You can simply be – do what makes you happy, less stressed, and everyone enjoys. What are your strategies to keep holiday chaos at bay? Share in the comments.

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13 Simple Habits of a Happy Mom

Jordan N. — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 06:28:15 +0000

What if there’s one thing that you can do about being happy in your life? What is a happy mom, and how can simple habits help you feel happier? Anything can wear out a mom’s bandwidth. These days, it’s easier to get caught up with matters at home, work, and out in the community. Moms are stretched to the limits and barely surviving. You may be working during the pandemic and figuring out kids’ daycare/school needs. Or you’re navigating homeschooling for the first time or working from home with kids not yet able to attend school. Overstress is enough to get your emotional state at a crisis. So how can you give when your tank is almost empty? Are you frustrated to the point of wanting to burrow up beneath the sheets? Do you feel like piles of housework are engulfing you? You are not alone. Many moms who feel at the brink of exhaustion. No denying that they may surrender any small glimpse of joy for themselves can become burnout, weary, and even unhappy. You all must do what you know is best for your situation. However, you can adjust some aspects of your life to accommodate some that help brings you joy. It is time to think about what drove you at this point? What did you let go to make space for others? Everyone has their definition of happiness in life. We can’t argue that we see life through a different lens and mood. We might seek happiness in every milestone related to our personal, home, and work-life almost every day. It’s validating for us. It holds reality in check. Yet, you don’t have to wait until we meet these monumental moments to feel happy. Instead, you can create habits into your daily routine that help you feel happier, no matter what life throws at you. 13 Simple habits you can incorporate daily to be a Happy Mom Get enough sleep and make physical health a priority. I know, I know. So why do these have to be the first one on the list? Less sleep and decreased recovery mean you’re tired or become moody. What about your immune system and heart health? These two can become affected when your sleep schedule isn’t great. Invest in a calming bedtime routine after the kids have gone to bed. Select bedtime rituals that encourage your body to slow down and relax. A study suggests that sleep and happiness are linked. So why not create better schedule for sleep to happen, whenever possible. Trust that your body will get you through the day. Fuel your body with a balanced diet and moderate physical activity. You are more than capable of practicing habits that keep your body in a healthy state. If you’re battling a chronic health condition, it’s more critical to regularly see your doctor and make use of the individualized plan to manage your condition. When you’re sick, take care and don’t push yourself. As moms, we tend to continue the grind even when we’re sick. Let others help you. You need to rest and recuperate. Go outside. Even for just 30 minutes, a short walk around the neighborhood can reset your mind from the daily grind of motherhood. Even on your workdays, stepping out to get 10 minutes of air from outside can help you flourish. Set a calendar day to go hiking in nature and take in the fresh air and the calming benefits of nature sounds. Or visit a public garden and sit in silence under the trees. Spend time with the people you love. Your spouse may also crave some time alone. Let it be the norm to spend time together. If you both work outside the home, set aside time to communicate and connect. Plan a fun evening for the two of you and refrain from talking about the kids. Instead, refocus your attention on what makes you love the person you’re with. Spending one-on-one time with your kids can do wonders in their emotional development. They become the focus of your time, not a household chore, not errands. They see you cut out time to be with them and intentionally connect. Kids feel safe and loved when parents are mindful about reconnecting. RELATED POST: Intentional Motherhood: Mothering with Purpose Do things with purpose. Work with purpose. Being purposeful takes practice. We are all prone to auto-pilot. With that, you have your schedule of chores, appointments, and activities. However, there’s an opportunity to slow down. Take the time to indulge in the moment of what you’re doing. When we love our job at work, we don’t feel the drag. We feel passionate and motivated to do our best at work. Do your work with purpose. Answer the why; why you’re doing what you’re doing. Do you feel happy about your job? There’s a thin line between happiness at work and because you need to work. Search for your purpose when you aren’t feeling fulfilled in where you are right now. I don’t mean, quit at once. Instead, reset and rethink what benefits you and check your happiness gauge. Aim for simple, realistic self-care. Self-care is this and that. Everyone tells you what to do. Please take it as your guide for starting on self-care. However, what method you use or choose to take care of yourself – depends on what keeps your spirit up. You don’t want to be lifting three times a week when your heart isn’t in it. Or gardening on the weekends when you want to read or relax. Choose what makes you happy. Choose something that fuels your mind and body. Indulge in self-care that refuels you and your joy. Practice gratitude. Being practical doesn’t mean being dull. On the contrary, things and people in our lives bring us joy in moments. What sets gratitude apart is that it comes from within. Your inner voice tells you that “I’m grateful for small things, for the challenges that made me grow, for the supportive people in my life, and more.” It helps you see things in a different light, and you become grateful for what you have. Decrease media time. In a world full of instant access, media is helpful when you’re looking for information. But when you dwell on negative news every single day, it takes away your peace of mind when you take in what’s happening in the world. Take little at a time. Maybe listen to the morning news and shut it off afterward. Social media scrolling, if it triggers you – skip the ones that don’t serve you. Get home in order. I’m not referring to the type of HGTV home organization-level and simply illustrating getting clutter and chaos out of sight and creating a cleaning routine that fits your schedule and lifestyle. It can’t be something that forces you to do every single day. However, homemaking brings joy to those who do it with purpose. Getting overwhelmed with chores can become stressful enough that it disrupts your happiness. As a result, you become whiny, short-tempered, and even unhappy. Share the load. Everyone shares the homemaking load. Remember, it isn’t only you who use the space at home. You have the whole family. So let them pitch in with what they can appropriately do. The kids can do chores that can quickly be done and delegated. You can check out my post on the chore list by age. Sharing household management with your spouse or significant other can lighten up the load on you physically. However, taking into account how it can liberate your mental load when you know that some home care isn’t just your responsibility, but everyones’. Reach out when it’s all so overwhelming. RELATED POST: Declutter Before Organizing Positive mindset. Positivity in all the things you do can become taxing. I get it. You can’t just happily skip around town and stay positive. But intentionally reminding yourself of what matters and remaining positive can help you reframe your mind and feel happier. Talk it out with someone if you feel you can’t get past an event or are causing you undue emotions that aren’t dissipating. Release the negative thoughts. Seeing the brighter side of life takes patience and reminder. Acknowledge the not-so-good part and move forward with what you can do and control. You can decrease the mental load of motherhood when you focus on what makes you a happy mom and simple habits that you can change along the way. Keep a routine. Either doing an early morning routine, having a journaling schedule, or getting your kids’ routine down with them, it gets easier for you to navigate life. When you spend time doing personal rituals that make you happy or keep you motivated to stay happy, you’re more likely to keep them up. Setting up and implementing routine needs discipline and flexibility to adjust to anything. But, it doesn’t have to be done or anything. Seek out what you can do; joy becomes the focus, not perfection. Learn to manage your time. Don’t you have enough time to do everything at home and work even? Prioritize and have a plan for everything. As mentioned above, routines for kids can help you streamline the things that need to be done. They’re aware of what they expect to do at a given moment. And as your kids do their daily routine in the morning or evening, you have that window to do other things to help everyone get out the door or get ready for bed. You can’t be cleaning all day. Start creating a time block for your cleaning routine. You don’t have to multitask all the time. Permit yourself to do one thing at a time to give your brain a break from processing multiple information. Assign time limits if you can, so you are not stuck to one task for a long time. As a work-from-home mom, I do timer for my focused daily tasks. I already have a set schedule to homeschool, my kids. I can block out times for other priority tasks around those times. When I put time for my freelance health writing, I batch tasks in an hour or two, like researching or creating content. As for this blog, tasks needed to keep it running and writing blog posts draw priority. These are somehow a loose schedule for all work-related tasks. Nothing is written in stone. However, I value the time when I can focus on one task at a time and be flexible enough to adjust when I need to. Breaks are essential to keep you on track with your scheduled tasks. Set prayer as part of your day. Let it lead you to seek solace in times of trouble and sadness. Those challenging times draw that grace from prayers when you question your worth. Seek the strength from Him that gives life and perfect refuge. It isn’t temporary joy. When you give your all and lead a prayerful life, you open up your heart to find happiness in His love and mercy every single day. Final Words of Simple Habits to do as a Happy Mom Ultimately, being a mom is hard work yet comes with beautiful moments to treasure. So you tuck those moments somewhere and draw joy from remembering them. Making time on your daily habits as a mom will help you feel happy and fulfilled amid the chaos of mothering and managing the home. As moms, we draw our strength from within. We give love without expectations. Start small and add on what you can. Starting a habit doesn’t require you to completely overhaul your life. Instead, let these steps help you become a happier mom in the days to come. Take a small step to change and weave it into your day-to-day journey of becoming a happy mom. Liking this kind of post? Please leave a comment to let me know about what you do to stay a happy mom?

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