Who Moved My Holidays?

3 Keys to Transforming Seasonal Stress into Holiday Success

Your alarm clock radio goes off too early again, and the announcer says, “Just a few weeks left for your holiday shopping.” You roll over and rub your eyes, unable to believe what you just heard.

And you think, “Who moved my holidays?”

As a Life Coach, author, and professional speaker and having coached thousands of people over the last 25 years, I’m not surprised.

Most of us procrastinate over our holiday preparations, because of all the stress we put on ourselves during the season to do too many things and be in too many places all at once.”

It’s time to change that! Here’s how:

· RELAX

The first key, and you can think of these as “The Three R’s for Transforming Seasonal Stress into Holiday Success,” is for you to relax. Just be yourself. Avoid comparing yourself to others. For instance, some people finish their holiday shopping in July. For them, it’s an adventure they enjoy. But maybe you wait until the last minute. Or perhaps a friend wants to go to every seasonal activity in your area. But you don’t enjoy the traffic jams and crowds. Shop online and eliminate a source of stress. Both are equally appropriate ways of doing holidays.

The other day, I was thinking about how different some plants are. For instance, there are desert plants, cactus for example, that survive and even thrive on very little water. For many desert plants, their rainfall comes only at a certain time of the year and they have to store the water they’ll need for the rest of that year. These plants serve as homes to birds and shelter from the sun to various reptiles.

Then there’s rice. Rice grows in paddies that are flooded. If rice isn’t mostly under water, it doesn’t grow. It requires constant water. Rice is the main staple in the diet of millions of people around the world.

But could there by any two more different species than a desert plant and rice? Is one better than another? Does one say to the other, “I’m superior to you?” Of course not. Both serve their unique function in our world.

Like cacti and rice, relax into who you are without the stress of comparing yourself with others. Just relax as a human being. Don’t define yourself only as a human doing. By relaxing, you avoid procrastinating and wondering, “Who moved my holidays?”

· REMIND YOURSELF ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

You really don’t have to buy the perfect gift for your mother-in-law. You really don’t have to go to every party you receive an invitation to. If you have to choose between showing up at your company’s office party and being there for your child’s holiday play, go to the play. You can’t be two places at once and while there are numerous employees at work, you’re the only Mom or Dad your child has. Your boss will just have to understand and if s/he doesn’t, why are you working there?

There are some things you can control about the holiday season, but there are more that you can’t. Do the best you can at controlling those things you can. Don’t stress out trying to be perfect, controlling the things you can’t.

My wife tells the story from her childhood of decorating the Christmas tree along with the rest of her family one Christmas Eve. All of a sudden, there comes a knock on the door. One of her five older sisters answers the door, and says, “Well, Santa Claus! Come on in! Are you here to see my little sister?”

Like she’s shot out of a cannon, my wife takes off running for her bedroom, scared to death that Santa Claus has come on Christmas Eve and she’s not ready for him. She’s not laid out his cookies and milk. She’s not said her bedtime prayers. And she’s not in bed, asleep. All of which means that she’s a bad girl and Santa’s not going to leave her a single present.

Like my wife was with Santa, sometimes you think you have to be perfect during the holidays as if everyone around you is a jolly ole elf. And yet you know you can’t be perfect so you wind up stressing yourself out. By reminding yourself about what you can and can’t control, you no longer wonder, “Who moved my holidays?”

· RESOLVE TO PERSEVERE
The final key to transforming seasonal stress into holiday success is to resolve to persevere. You relax without comparing yourself. You remind yourself of what you can and can’t control, making the best decisions you can. And then you keep on going through the holidays with a smile that exudes successful living to those around you.

The temperatures plunged below freezing for over a week. It was our first cold snap of the fall and we were all trying to adjust to it…

…except for this one rose bush in our backyard. Somehow, this bush didn’t get the word that it was time to stop blooming, because it kept on blooming. One bloom at a time appeared on the bush, each one perfectly shaped; its resplendent colors bursting on your eye against the gray-brown backdrop of the yard.

And as each bloom emerged, I cut it at just the right time, brought it inside my office, put it in a vase, and marveled as it continued to unfold its beauty. Who would have thought it—a rose blooming in freezing temperatures!

The holiday season may seem cold and stressful for you. You may feel like procrastinating and wondering, “Who moved my holidays?” But like my rose, persevere by relaxing and being who you are, reminding yourself of what you can control, and bloom in the midst of it all. That’s how you transform seasonal stress into holiday success!

Email DrJoey@listentolife.org OR call free 1.877.4DRJOEY to start listening to your life today!