The Overwhelm of December and Staying Sane

OK... it's everyone's favourite time

Christmas and end of year events every weekend, a never-ending list of gifts to be bought, crazy traffic, school holidays coming up preparing for 8 weeks (8 weeks!!!) of your kids at home, hundreds of friends coming out of the woodwork wanting to catch up before the end of the year... phew

..... Breathe ......

I personally find December super overwhelming (in case you didn't remember, I ducked off last year to WA with a days' notice to live in a van for two weeks over Christmas... whoops). If you're anything like me, you find the constant noise of family, friends, gatherings, socialising, celebrating and organising stressful, rather than joyful.

So what can you do??

A friend reminded me on Friday, "isn't it crazy that we're all going round stressing and so negative about how we get to spend time with our friends and family??" and she was SO right. This time of year is always such a good reason to actually catch up with that friend you haven't seen in 3 years, or actually do the family gathering that's never *quite* as awful as you think it will be. Realistically, we're a pretty isolated world nowadays, despite how connected it seems we are. A lot of our capacity and ability to spend time in the physical company of people we love has become limited, not because we don't value that time anymore, but because the world we're in is SO overwhelming and full of pressure that it seems there's literally never time for anything else!!

This is your time Go have the wine or the coffee. Go do the picnic or the cocktail night or the bowling. You most absolutely (probably) won't regret it and may even enjoy yourself a litttttle bit.

Secondly...

*WHAT CAN YOU CONTROL?*

Not much!

So why try??? I remind myself allll the timee that there's physically only so much I can get done in a day. I utilise lots of list-making, by prioritising tasks and things I want to get done, and then making an 'urgent/important' list from these priorities. And if that's what I can get through, no matter how much else is on that list, then I'm good.

You'll never be able to 'get on top of things', so don't try! Do one thing at a time and be OK with more and more being added to your list (because half of that stuff is stuff we really only *think* we need to do anyway. Half of it we can let burn and the world wouldn't stop).

And lastly...

Make a promise to make your time for yourself. Whether it's gym or walking or having a bath or reading or hiking or cooking. Make the PROMISE to yourself to do it. Fit it in somewhere in your week. Put that 'you time' on the 'urgent/important' list, not the 'i'll get to it when im dead' list.

Much love xx