Welcome to The Own Your Health Podcast.
I'm Cyndi Lynne, and I can't wait to
help you step into your health power.
Today, I want to talk about three stress less
holiday secrets, and this is going to be a
short one because we don't necessarily have a whole
lot of time for sitting around listening to podcasts
this month. I want to give you the
three tips that I find the most helpful.
And it's funny, every year I circle back to these.
If you ask me about them in
September, I'll say, you know what?
I'm going to have lots of time.
I'm going to be organized.
I'm not going to have to worry about those.
And then all of a sudden, Thanksgiving rolls around and
I'm like, all right, where are my three secrets?
The three secrets to stressing less.
Number one is schedule.
Now, I know it sounds counterintuitive, and so many of
us would say that we want open family time.
We want unscheduled time.
We want downtime. But guess what?
Unless it hits your schedule, it
isn't going to happen for sure.
So schedule your holiday time.
Even if you're off of work, schedule it
like you would when you were working.
And that means scheduling time for yourself.
And this is important because as schedules
fill up, people grab you for this.
People invite you here.
This opportunity comes up. Someone's
in town you hadn't expected.
You need to be able to look at your calendar
and find that balance so that if somebody does ask
you for a time commitment, you can actually look at
your calendar and say, I'm already booked.
Even if it's just time for yourself or if it's
something that you really want to do, and it's on
a night that you've scheduled to be home and do
some self care, that brings an awareness, saying, okay, I'm
cutting into my self care time if I really want
to go to this event, which you can.
You're a grown up.
Where am I going to get that time back?
Where am I going to reschedule that self care time?
Because without that awareness, without that earmark and
scheduling, we get to the end of the
month and we're exhausted and we're a mess,
and we haven't taken care of ourself.
And then the new year starts and we feel behind.
But we'll talk more about that later.
So number one, schedule.
Number two, decide on deli and bakery.
I'm often asked to bring things to events.
I love cooking.
I love baking.
But we get to a certain point in
the season where there just isn't time.
So I'm more than happy to contribute to a meal.
And I give myself permission to go to a bakery
and pick up a really fantastic dessert or go to
a deli, pick up a beautiful meat tray.
And I decide that ahead of time so
that there isn't that play in my mind.
Do I have time if I stop
at lunch and pick these things up?
I can put a platter together at night.
No, all of that goes away. When you're invited
somewhere and you want to contribute and say, can
I bring a meat and cheese tray or would
you like me to bring a dessert?
They say, yes, have your deli, your
bakery, your restaurant, whoever you use for
catering, chosen ahead of time.
And then number three, pick a holiday outfit.
One I remember for years, especially with corporate events, thinking
to myself, oh, my gosh, I need a dress for
this one and I need another dress for this one,
and this one's going to be black.
And it was a lot of money and it was a
lot of time, and it was a lot of angst.
For what?
I don't know if it's necessarily since lockdowns and
all of that or working from home, but I
know that people are spending a lot less money
on clothes that you wear very infrequently.
Now, if you enjoy dressing up,
and that's your thing, great.
That won't be stressful for you.
But if it is, if finding outfits for
different events and things you attend, if that's
stressful for you, then just pick one.
Black slacks and a gorgeous red sweater or a
black skirt and a long, drapey, colorful overwear.
That's even a thing.
But picking that one outfit, picking the thing that
you're going to look good in, that you know
fits you, that you know what accessories go with
that's going to take the stress off.
If you're the kind of person that worries about
or frets or runs around or tries on everything
in their closet and doesn't find anything they like,
pick one outfit and make it really simple.
Make it festive, make it gorgeous, and you're the
one that shines when you get to the party.
So let's recap.
Three stress less holiday secrets.
One, schedule.
And schedule like you mean it.
Two, decide ahead of time on the deli or
the bakery that you're going to use when you
want to contribute to a holiday event.
And number three, pick one holiday outfit with all
of the accessories, have it ready to go, and
then you don't have to think about it again.
So if you're looking for ways to have
more joy, less stress in your life, check
out the less stress, more joy program.
In the notes below. There's a link.
You can grab it in there.
It's actually an excerpt from my year long program.
It's yours for only $27, an absolute no brainer.
Head into 2024, the rest of this holiday season
and next year with less stress and more joy.
Until next week, own it.
