When the holiday season is overwhelming
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The holiday season is such a fun and exciting time, but as a mother and homemaker it can also be extremely overwhelming. Because you need to make sure everybody has a gift, everyone has something to eat during Christmas and you don’t end up in debt by doing this. And all this has to happen while you are doing your regular tasks!
Needless to say, it can be very stressful and overwhelming. So let’s figure out some ways to keep these days fun and exciting, without the overwhelm.
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What to do when the holiday season is overwhelming
1. Focus on the Lord
‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.’ – Isaiah 26:3 –
When things feel overwhelming, the most important thing we can (and should) be doing is staying close to the Lord. He is the one that can give us perfect peace, no matter what we need to do during this season. So whatever you do, don’t forget to spend time with Him. Don’t let the business of the season take over your quiet time.
2. Clear the calendar
If all the things you need to overwhelm you, make sure you have less things to do. I know that sounds obvious, but it is so easy to plan more than you can handle in a season like this. So make sure you don’t do more things than needed. You don’t need to attend every holiday party and visit every Christmas market. Do what is important, what makes you happy and what keeps you sane. And then eliminate the rest!
3. Plan days off
Along with clearing the calendar, it is important to actually put days off ON the calendar. Yes, I just told you to not plan too much, but planning days where you stay home and bake or clean something, go out on a hike with the family or just watch a Christmas movie, is just as important!
Especially in busy seasons like December, it is important to have days where you can just enjoy the season and the fun it brings. So plan those days, because before you know it the season is over and you are exhausted.
4. Make a list
There is nothing more important when it comes to overwhelm than writing things down. When it is in paper, you can take it out of your mind. It truly is amazing to know how much better you will feel when you have everything written down and don’t have to remember all the things.
So if there is one practical tip than can keep away the overwhelm, it is this. Write down every single thing you need to do, so you don’t have to remember it all.
I actually wrote a blogpost about weekly to do lists before. So if you want to take this concept and make every single week of the year less stressful, definitely read this post.
5. Divide the list into bite sized pieces
Okay, nothing is more overwhelming to me than a big to do list. So eventhough I just told you to write that list down, make sure you don’t stop there.
Yes, it is extremely helpful to make a master to do list, but just looking at it increases my overwhelm already. So instead of leaving everything on a big list, turn it into smaller tasks that are manageable. Choose 1-3 items from the master to do list every single day instead of looking at the big list constantly. It will reduce the overwhelm, but you still get everything done!
6. Keep asking yourself if it’s important enough
So many small things can try to steal our peace in this season. And it is important to first of all know this can happen, but to also stay on your toes. Does it really matter what type of wrapping paper you use? Or is it not worth it to stress about it?
Everything that you write down on the master to do list, needs to be important enough to actually write down. So always ask yourself; Is this important? If it’s not, don’t do it! If it increases your stresslevels by 200%, don’t do it!
This season is supposed to be a fun season, so don’t let all the things you need to do take that away!
7. Don’t make it harder than it is
And lastly, you really need to stop making things harder than they need to be. Yes, you need a nice Christmas dinner, but it doesn’t have to be this extravagant 8 course dinner. It can just be a roast from the slow cooker with veggies and potatoes and still be amazing!
Also, don’t put too much on your plate. It is fun to host parties, but make sure you don’t host more than you can handle.
And one last thing, keep the gifts simple too! This season is not about the amount of gifts, but about the birth of our Lord and Savior. So don’t go overboard when it comes to gifts. Stick to the Simple Gift System and keep it fun.
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