Last week I talked about overextending yourself or spreading yourself too thin over the busy holidays and the importance of rest and this week I’m offering some helpful tips and questions to ask yourself in order to support intentional thinking and good decision making. These are areas I’ve worked on over the years and they can definitely be applied to other seasons beyond the holidays.
In order to help you manage this busy season, I have made a list of questions you can ask yourself and tips I have used to help myself to maintain a good balance throughout the weeks leading up to and at the holidays.
Side note! I like to be graceful with all of these questions and tips because I find that when I give myself flexibility to go up and down on things, then I’m more likely to even try to meet my goals, rather than dreading the process at risk of failure of not doing it perfectly. Besides, there’s always room for improvement. These points apply at any time of the year but can be especially helpful around the holidays when things tend to easily go into overdrive, any extra support you can provide yourself can make all the difference.
The questions below have the theme of creating boundaries for yourself and the tips below have the theme of planning and preparation to set yourself up for success. Around the holidays, I find these two themes go hand in hand to feel healthy and balanced throughout the high energy December days.
Here are some QUESTIONS to ask yourself that can be supportive for you around the holiday season:
Question #1. When can I plan to rest this month? How many days, how many times per week, how many minutes per day?
Being specific and creating a measurable goal can help to maintain accountability with yourself – to be able to “check a box” saying, I either achieved my goal or I did not.
And allowing for graceful moments to say, “I got 5 minutes of rest and quiet in today and that’s not as much as I wanted but I’m happy that I had the intention to prioritize myself and those 5 minutes did help.”
Question #2. Are there some events that I don’t need to attend this year at the holidays? Can I catch up with certain people after the holidays in order to balance out my social activities and create more free time for myself instead of for someone else?
Acknowledging the commitments and responsibilities you may have that cannot easily be changed.
And letting go of the guilt of RSVPing, “No Thank You” to events that may feel obligatory but are really optional. Reminder to come back to yourself, to prioritize yourself and take care of yourself. It’s okay to take care of yourself and say no if that’s what you need.
Question #3. How many activities is too many activities?
This could involve thinking intentionally about what activities you really love and look forward to and what activities you could pass on.
If large crowds are not ideal for you, this could involve getting a little creative to find new ways to have fun that you are more comfortable with.
Question #4. Do I have a budget for holiday spending? What does this budget look like? How much do I plan to spend per person, or overall?
Another area that I am very graceful with myself. I like to create a structure of how much I plan to spend and on who and then I give myself space to play with what comes up and what feels right, without restricting or feeling guilty about not staying perfectly within the budget guidelines. For me, budgeting is a practice that I’m always working on so there’s always room to improve.
Here are some TIPS to try that can be supportive for you around the holiday season:
Note, these are all food related because I personally struggle the most with maintaining a healthy diet when I’m staying with family and I’m out of my usual environment where everything is convenient. These are some small things that have helped me to stay healthy and what better place to start supporting yourself then with what you put in your body. 😊
Tip #1. Create a rough meal plan for a few weeks or for the month.
This is helpful to have an outline of something you can refer back to when the days get busy and there isn’t a lot of time to think ahead about meals. If you plan some healthy meal ideas out in advance, you can quickly refer back to them as a reminder of what your healthy meal goals were at the beginning of the month, which can also be a great self-check-in of where you’re currently at. This can be helpful if you have an impromptu grocery trip or if you have some free time to cook one night – the thinking portion is already done!
I’m always busy so this is something I practice regularly! I find that having a quick reference meal plan for the week or a few weeks (I write mine in my notes app on my phone so I always have it with me) helps by creating convenience to support my healthy goals, which in turn helps me to stay accountable with ease, which then helps me to feel more confident in my goal setting/completing, which makes me want to keep doing it and builds confidence – it’s essentially a positive feedback loop!
Tip #2. Meal prep some healthy meals and freeze them.
In moments when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare a meal, you can pull out a healthy meal from the freezer instead of ordering in and adding to the pile of treat meals had over the holidays. This way you can really enjoy and appreciate the treat meals that you planned for with family dinners and nights out with friends and you can enjoy a healthy freezer meal when you’re just in a pinch or too tired to cook.
This has been very supportive for me lately because I always know that I have something in the freezer to grab when I need it. I like having the option to eat out or grab a freezer meal, when I have nothing readily prepared in the fridge. When I have food in the freezer, I don’t feel like eating out is my only option when I’m tired, and that is so valuable for me. It saves me money and I physically feel better by continuing to nourish my body.
Tip #3. Have a stash of healthy snacks that you can take with you on the go and try to pull on them once in a while during the holidays instead of always going for the treat snack.
A healthy snack stash is key when traveling, at family gatherings when you’re not sure what kind of food there will be, when shopping for long hours or just to keep in the car for emergency hungry moments.
I like to tell myself that I don’t’ have to be so strict and only eat the snacks I brought but having something healthy available allows me to be able to make the choice of a healthy snack or a treat snack. It helps to be intentional about what treats I look forward to having and what treats I could pass on for a healthier snack option. For me it’s all about having options and not getting stuck in a bind. I’m a hungry girl and food is usually on the mind so being prepared helps so much!
And lastly, I practice replacement rather than restriction. Instead of saying, “I can’t have that cookie, so I will have nothing” I say, “I’m not super interested in that cookie but I’m still feeling ‘snacky’ so I’ll have the almonds and fruit I brought instead.”
I hope these tips and questions are supportive for you in your health journey around holidays and throughout the rest of the year. If you have more tips, leave a comment below and I would love to hear about it!
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