#63 Three Lists That Lower Stress

November 21, 2024

In this episode I share 3 Lists that help make my holiday season so much less stressful.

Owning our health starts with making choices and these lists will give you the time to make the very best choices for you!

Need some help with your lists? Grab a time on my schedule to chat and start chosing. Absolutely free!

Disclaimer: Information provided in this blog/podcast is for informational purposes only. This information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of your physician or other healthcare professional. Do not use the information provided in this blog/podcast for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or other supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly.

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Episode Transcript

Hello and

welcome

to the Own

Your Health

Podcast,

I'm Cyndi Lynne,

and I can't

wait to help

you step into

your health

power.

And today we're

going to talk

about.

Oh, hello, Lily.

We're going to

talk about

minimizing

stress to

maximize

your health this

holiday season.

And I'm going

to share with

you my three

lists that make

the whole

holiday

season much

easier

and take a

load of stress

off. Now, these

lists

aren't just a

static piece of

paper that you

look at once

and leave on

the kitchen

counter.

These are active

lists that I

create in my

phone on my

iPad, so I

have with me

all the time.

And they're,

I'll call them

living lists

because

they change and

morph and

beyond,

just crossing

things off

they're also

part

of the creative

process.

And I welcome

you to try

these three

lists

for the next

six to eight

weeks and see

if the less

stress doesn't

help

you feel more

like you're in

the driver's

seat

and owning your

health.

So first, the

first list is

a list of gifts.

Now, there's a

reason that this

is first.

Not because

gifts

are the most

important part

the holidays or

even the whole

meaning of it,

but as I

travel through

days and weeks

over this period

of time, if

I have that

list of who

I want to

buy gifts for,

what I want

to buy, if

I have an

idea already and

where I want

to buy it,

I find it's

a lot easier

when I find

myself in a

particular neighborhood

or near a

particular

shop or a

particular restaurant

to pick up those

gifts, because

making

the list keeps

it front of

mind and having

it there saying,

you know, what

a minute I'm

on this side

of town, maybe

I can pick

up something

over

here, or maybe

this is close

to one of

the stops where

I had planned

on being.

Now, going

through

this process

stirs

the mind and

again, keeps

things

front of mind.

But we'll come

back to this

idea later when

we talk about

the other two

lists that I

like to make.

Holidays are a

great time to

be with family

and friends, and

very often we

get together

with

people that we

don't see the

rest of the

year.

And I always

like to make

a decision ahead

of time about

how many people,

how many events

I want to host.

I can look

at the calendar,

I can look at my

anticipated

amount of

energy.

I can look

at the workload,

coordinate with

husband, and we

decide how many

evenings or

afternoons

we have in

the holiday

season

that we want

to host people.

And then the

rest of the

people who I

want to see

and spend time

with and

reconnect

with through the

holidays, go on

the third list,

which is people

that I want to,

I want to

get together

with,

but that will

meet somewhere.

So the list

of gifts, the

list of who

you're going to

entertain, who

you're

going to host,

and the list

of who you

want to connect

with somewhere

outside

of your home.

Now, these are

very different

mental spaces.

So that's why

I have the

list organized

this way.

Because if you

simply have a

kind of a

running list of,

oh, my gosh,

I want to

for sure see

Susan this year,

and we haven't

seen this couple

for ages, and,

oh, I want

to catch up

with this

person,

it kind of

gets a little

bit nebulous.

And until

something's

on a calendar,

for me

especially,

it just doesn't

happen.

And I used

to fool myself

into thinking I

could entertain

a lot more than

I could or

that I'd have

the energy for

it, or that

there would be

enough Friday

and

Saturday nights

Sunday brunches

do everything I

wanted to do.

And in reality,

it caused me

a whole lot

of stress.

So this, for

me, has been

super

organizing.

Who do I

want to get

together with,

and then who am

I hosting and

who am I

meeting out?

And sometimes

these

lists overlap.

You may want

to meet someone

out and actually

get invited to

their place, but

again, it's not

something that

you have to host

and prepare for.

Now, when it

comes to the

gifts, if there

are gifts,

people

and gifts in

list number one

of gifts that

overlap with

list

number three of

folks you want

to meet

somewhere

outside, then a

little special

magic

can happen that

takes a load

off of both.

And very often

I will invite

girlfriends, especially

out,

to a holiday

lunch that I

host and I

treat at a

restaurant, and

that is my gift

to them.

And it'll be

a special lunch,

someplace we

wouldn't

necessarily or

normally

go, or maybe

a lunch, tea,

or something

special

being hosted at

the restaurant.

But often that

gift can be

the gift of

the lunch, the

gift of the

presents, the

gift

of the spending

time together.

And it crosses

items off of

two of the

lists at the

same time,

which,

if you've known

me for any

amount of time,

that crossing

off is a really

big piece for

me.

So let's go

back to that

first list, the

list of gifts.

And this is

where another

area

of stress can

really pop up.

So when you

have this list

of gifts, look

at people on

the list and

think, is there

possessions?

Is there

belongings?

Is there things,

physical items

that I want to

get for them.

And this can

be something

that you've seen

that

makes you think

of this person.

Absolutely.

And you know,

they just have

to have this.

Or it can be the

excitement

of supporting a

new hobby or

new health

practices.

That's a

favorite

of mine.

Sharing gifts

that

support people

in their new

healthy

activities.

And you can

also look at

that list and

very often

you'll

see people who

don't necessarily

need

more things.

And then you

can look at

experiences.

What experiences

can you offer?

We talked about

getting together

for lunch and

hosting

that lunch as

your gift to

them and being

your holiday

meetup.

But you can

also host other

types of

experiences.

Theater tickets,

community

events, a trip

to an art

museum.

Whatever the

person

enjoys, make up

a gift around

that.

So take them.

Or if it's

not something

they

enjoy, or if

it's something

for

a couple, send

them with the

tickets for that

particular event,

your

well wishes for

it.

And that can

really be.

That can really

be meaningful

for people who

don't

need more gifts

because oftentimes

people

don't necessarily

do those things

for themselves.

So check out

local activities,

check

out things in

the area where

your friends and

family live,

things

that they may

not choose to

do, and you

can encourage

that.

The other kind

of gifts that

I like to

think about and

give are more

lasting subscription

kinds of gifts.

And there's a

lot of these

that support

health.

There's some of

these that

support

reading interests,

there's

some of these

that support

hobbies.

Different practices,

different

things that

people have.

I have found

over the years

that fewer and

fewer people

actually

subscribe to

print magazines.

People are used

to getting

everything

online.

And yet there's

a few magazines

that have come

back or a

few that have

emerged that are

really neat to

have to hold

in your hand,

that have

beautiful

photography, that

are the kind of

things that you

hang on to,

that you like

to save.

And so those

types of

subscriptions

are something

that

you can think

about for gifts

as well.

The point of

these examples

being

that giving

someone

a gift that

comes from the

heart because

it's

something that

you

think of for

them is going

to be much

less stressful

than

this long list

of, oh my

heavens, I have

all these people

to buy gifts

for and I

don't even know

where to start.

How you approach

it is going

to determine its

impact on your

health.

And that's what

we're about

here,

is owning your

health.

So owning the

holidays and

there

will be more

episodes on this

is very much

about owning

your

stress level and

deciding how

stressed

you're going to

let yourself

get.

So let's hope

that these three

lists, your

lists

of people and

gifts, your list

of who you

want to host,

and your list

of who you

want to meet

up with outside

in the world

will lower that

stress a little

bit and let

you own your

health.

If you want

some help with

this, if you

need.

If you need

help sorting

this

out, pick a

time on my

calendar and

let's chat.

I am here

to help you.

So until next

week and next

episode, let's

go out and own

it.

#63 Three Lists That Lower Stress

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