7 tips starting NOW to get a de-stressed Christmas Season!

Holiday Season is coming up with all fun activities and gatherings with your favorite friends and family! Or – Holiday Season is coming up with stress and depression for the things you MUST do! Which scenario do you prefer?

The first one I guess!

It is time to start now to make the perfect Christmas and New Year Holidays. With a little bit of planning it is achievable. Miscommunication and unrealistic expectations are usually the causes of all this stress. That is why you need to start talking with your folks – now!

Here are 7 tips to help you make it happen:

1. Gather your closest family NOW and have an honest discussion about everybody’s expectations. Decide on all where / what / why / who you can agree on. Document your agreement. Make sure everyone gets their copy of the agreement.

2. Decide who will be responsible for what -Document.

3. Make a preliminary list of all meals just to make an overview of the “food issue”. This may seem like a premature thing to plan but having a large family I know it helps to plan ahead. If you are aware of it you might even buy certain items ahead when you accidentally come across them.

4. Decide on Christmas gifts. One or many? Price level? Discussing this ahead will set more realistic expectations.

5. Buy your gifts and maybe also some of your food online and save time! Here is a great tip I stumbled upon for you: Shop online and get cashback (in pure money) on all the things you buy anyway – click here to benefit from it CashBackToYou (buy yourself a nice treat for the money you save). This platform also works for online hotel bookings and some other services. Check it out!

6. Ask your guests to bring some food to the dinner table – instead of flowers or chocolate for the hostess. It is fun to share and exiting to try someone else’s cooking. If you have several guests – make it a potluck!

7. Make a preliminary to do list for the weeks ahead – use “backwards engineering”. Start from the date when everything needs to be done. Then spread the tasks over the time period you have to your disposal. That will make it clear and save time and energy.

Does this seem boring? Then make it fun! Are you afraid of what the others will say – because you have ALWAYS done all the work yourself? Is it too untraditional? Then get out of your comfort zone and try this new way of thinking and ask for this. Involving everyone will make you grow together. This is a time for everyone – including YOU – to have fun and be able to relax. Just do it together!

And don’t forget – good enough is good enough! Good luck with this important de-stress work.

Which of the tips is your favorite?  What tip do you always use to be less stressed in the Holiday Season? Please share your ideas so others can use them too – and I love to read your comments below.

To your success – and keep smiling!

About Author:

I am a medical doctor, specialized in family medicine and health promotion and strategies. I have been a medical doctor in the Public Health System in Sweden for 25 years. The last couple of years I have changed focus from disease to health and have specialized in health promotion, work assessment, systematic health environment and other business related issues to be able to get the whole picture for my clients.

For more information : http://www.askdrannika.com/

5 Simple Tips For Less Stress When Travelling!

Home sweet home! That is what I say every time I get home from long-distance travelling. Not because I don’t like travelling and definitely not because I don’t like where I have been. No it is just because living out of a suitcase for too long is distressing and also travelling over many time zones stress your circadian cycles.

I have already been travelling long-distance to the west coast in US twice this fall and that is a time difference from Sweden at 9 hours. One more trip is planned. It doesn’t only split the time in my work but it does take some energy with the jetlag from such big time difference – both going there and also when coming back home.

As stress mentor I meet lots of business leaders and executives that say exactly the same thing. I usually ask them for their best tips on how to avoid to get all stressed out of all the travelling and I will list a few of their tips below.  

1. Prepare the week before with regular sleep and good food habits to make your body and mind be and feel at its best when you start your trip.
2. Be physically active before and during the trip. Use the gym of the hotels you stay at and/or take morning walks/runs to keep fit. That will help you keep your brain clear and also help from getting muscle pain from to much sitting still during travelling and conferencing.
3. Pack carefully. This is an issue that many of my clients have an opinion on. Some frequent flyers even have a separate wardrobe for travelling – they wash the clothes when they get home and put if back directly in the suitcase (or rather hang it in “the travelling area” that they have) and also directly fill up whatever consumables they usually bring. That will make them “travel ready” in no time and they know they don’t forget anything even though it might have been leaving in a rush. 
4. Set your watch at the local time of your destination as soon as you start your journey. Most people find that helpful because it sets your mind of what is coming – not at what has been.
5. Be moderate with alcoholic beverages while travelling. Alcohol can be a great tranquilizer when feeling the stress during your journey. BUT it also works as a disturbance to your circadian systems. That is a delicate system involving many hormones that affect your wellbeing. If you disturb it with alcohol you will get more problems with jetlag and general wellbeing during your trip.

These are 5 proven tips from my clients. I can definitely relate to them myself.  Can you? Are you a frequent flyer? What tip do you always use to make your travelling less stressed? Please share your ideas  – I love to read your comments below.

See more at : www.askdrannika.com/