Manage Holiday Mania, Part 1: Hone in on a Happy Holiday Mindset

Where’s your happy holiday mindset? It’s the most wonderful time of the year. 

Or is it?

Thanksgiving just passed, and perhaps you found it easy to move through the start of the holiday season. You were full of gratitude and joyfully expressed your love for others, and now you’re either:

or…

B. sunk with feelings of dread, overwhelm, stress, anxiety or sadness and just wish you could hibernate through it all.

Which resonates more with you?

Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle—not quite depressed or anxious or dreadful….but not super excited either.

Whichever selection you made, I’ve got you covered!

I’ve written a 4-part blog post series to help you stretch through the holidays. 

Whether you want to maintain your momentum and make sure you stay positive and skate through the busy season, or you want to pick yourself up, develop and happy holiday mindset, and be able to deal with the stress you see before you….

—this series is for you!

ALSO….

I combined the four posts into ONE great Holiday Survival Guide that you can download now and have all the tips and strategies at your fingertips right away. The guide also includes printable journal pages for each part so you can reflect and implement in ways that will work for you.

Just click the button below to grab the FREE guide.

If you’d rather keep reading here on my blog, let’s get on with Part 1 of this series!

Part 1: Hone in on a Happy Holiday Mindset

Here’s how to get mentally prepared for the holidays:

The first step is to believe that it is possible for the holidays to be different this year. Believe that you can go into this season strong and grounded.

You CAN feel good about yourself and the time you’ll spend enjoying festivities and being with loved ones. 

Decide that this is how it’s going to be this year. Don’t let yourself resolve to thinking things just have to be the same and you just have to deal with it.

You CAN set yourself up to be present with positive energy.

You CAN develop a positive holiday mindset AND keep it strong throughout the season!

4 Steps to Develop a Happy Holiday Mindset:

Step 1: Take some time to reflect on the things that usually make this a difficult season for you.

Start thinking about what gets you stressed and brings on overwhelm for you. What specific situations are you dreading? What are some of your typical struggles this time of year?

Is it the crowded stores and streets? Are there too many gift exchanges? Does Aunt Azalea always make you cringe with her embarrassing questions during Christmas dinner? And maybe Christmas dinner is already a major struggle, as well as all of the before and after holiday dinners, treats and parties.

What usually squashes your positive holiday mindset?

Step 2: Think about what you WANT to feel like.

What do you WANT to do and experience this season?

What can you control or influence, and what can you not?

These questions will help you identify what needs to be put into place to get what you want, to feel the way you want to feel, to reach that happy holiday mindset you long for.

Step 3: Think of strategies that will help you feel better about what’s to come.

Maybe you can’t make Aunt Azalea stop the nagging questions, but perhaps you could choose another seat or table; or you could come up with a great one-liner response like: “I’m really happy with how my life is going right now. Thank you.”

The stores and streets are going to be crowded, but maybe you could shop at more opportune times, shop online, or team up for gift-giving and split the shopping duties.

Can you start baking or prepping meals now? (I mean after you finish reading this of course.)

As for all the meals, treats and parties—you’ll find great tips for managing holiday eating in Part 4 and you can download my FREE Holiday Recipe Guide.

Explore these questions:

• What do you need to feel rooted in your life? 
• How could things be different? What different angles or ideas exist?
• What could you feel good about instead of deprived and controlled?

For me, I want to feel connected with my family and create memories and have experiences that make us laugh together, relax together, or stare in awe together. I intend to be fully present with my husband and son and not let little things bother me. I want to be open to opportunities that come up as well as challenges without stressing or worrying.

We decided one year that we wanted to spend Christmas alone, just the three of us, something we had never done. We always lived in the same state as our families all spread out across Texas, and we always made rounds traveling from house to house to house through the holidays. (Once or twice some family came for a holiday at our house.) We loved seeing all of our families, but we spent a lot of time driving to get places for short visits and quick good-byes. It was always a whirlwind of an adventure. Our emotions went up and down as we went from joyful visits to drudging drives over and over again.

So, that year shortly before Christmas we packed up our sailboat instead of our car, and we sailed straight across the Gulf of Mexico from South Padre Island, Texas, to Key West, Florida. We celebrated Christmas exactly how we wanted.

And now we’ve decide to make that our Christmas tradition: just the three of us on our little sailboat, First Light.

This is our tradition for now. And surfing if the waves are good! Now in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

Speaking of traditions….

Step 4: Find balance with traditions to reduce stress and anxiety.

Are there traditions that you wish you could stray away from?

Consider which traditions from the past have really lit your people up and which ones produced stress or overwhelm. Which ones have impacted your family in the most positive ways? Which ones only exhausted you?

Be the advocate for the exciting, spirit-lifting traditions, and let others know how you feel about the draining traditions. Perhaps there is something new you could suggest. 

Even changing the timing could help. Don’t want to drop one single tradition, but still worried about overwhelm? Could a party or two could be moved to an earlier or later date. Maybe your church offers multiple Christmas programs, and you could choose a different time to attend this year. Would the kids would be agreeable to having a New Years cookie baking day this year instead of Christmas baking. Won’t there be enough desserts, treats and snacks all through the month of December?

Know that you have free will to alter the course.

You CAN change plans. You’re the only who can ensure your happy holiday mindset.

Our families have accepted our decision about how we intend to spend Christmas, though I know they weren’t happy at first. Still, they welcome us with open arms and love when we visit other times of the year.

We may be back in Texas for Christmas some year in the future, but that’s the beauty of year-after-year…. It doesn’t have to be the same.

What are you going to choose this year? What do you get to do? How will you nurture your happy holiday mindset?

I’d love to hear about your reflections and ideas. You can comment below or send me a private message to my inbox.

Remember you can download the whole series in one awesome Holiday Survival Guide plus my Holiday Recipe Guide. Just click that link.

Or, if you’d rather read on the blog, go on to:

2: Keeping Your Physical Health in Check

3: Balancing Emotions and Mental Stability

4: Dealing With Actual Holidays and People

Thanks for reading!

Live, love and be well!

Jen