You say it every year. I am not going to overspend. I am not going to overeat. I am not going to feel guilty because I did not buy enough . . .
But you wind up doing it all anyway.
And it gets worse. You can’t hide from the Holiday pressure. TV commercials and advertisements are all over the place encouraging you to make everyone happy with stuff. And this one is kind of funny, if you visit a store online, they follow you all over the internet with reminders to buy whatever it is you looked at while on the site. Yes, they know what you looked at and they know how to find you.
JenningsWire, an online magazine that’s all about success, queried leading happiness experts to discover their top tips to being happy over the Holidays.
LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! Happiness Tips
Michael Mercer, Ph.D., of Dr.Mercer.com and the author of Spontaneous Optimism: Proven Strategies for Health, Prosperity, & Happiness starts us off today with this tip:
Avoid emotional vampires
During the Holiday season, refuse to allow emotional vampires into your life – including negative family and neighbors. “Emotional vampires” are people who suck positive feelings right out of your skulls. This include people who put you down, criticize you or sabotage your life. This Holiday season, limit contact to people who keep you from feeling optimistic and happy. Remember: Happy and optimistic people hang around with personal cheerleaders. Unhappy people surround themselves with emotional vampires.
No question about it, stress over money and gift giving is a big Holiday Happiness Buster
Jon Lal, Couponing/Smart Shopping Expert from BeFrugal.com says that overspending and stressing out over gift giving during the holidays is no fun! Be happy emotionally by practicing smart shopping. Here’s how:
Shop from home. It’s a timesaver to shop online without needing to worry about traffic, finding parking or icy roads.
Embrace online shopping features to help you stick to your budget. The online shopping cart’s total tallying feature keeps you within budget. If you realize you are overspending, just unload your cart without an embarrassment or line hold up as you would at the store.
Empower yourself to find deals and plan your shopping. Look at weekly ads online ahead of time to see what’s on sale and make your shopping list by checking out the door busters. By looking online at the flyers, you do not need to buy, or wait for delivery of, a newspaper.
Add up the savings: When you shop online, you can often get free shipping offers, amazing deals, use an online coupon code plus earn free cash back when you shop online.
And don’t bring the extra goodies into your house in the first place if dealing with health or weight loss issues
Now let’s go to Stress Relief and Nutrition Expert, Rosalie Moscoe, RHN, RNCP, of HealthInHarmony.com and author of Frazzled Hurried Woman! Your Stress Relief Guide to Thriving. . . Not Merely Surviving.
Don’t bring extra cookies or chocolate into the house in advance of the holidays. They’ll only get eaten (by you) and can increase glucose. This will make you cranky, tired and cause fluctuations of blood sugar.
Keep to a good sleep routine. The holidays are hectic and full of tension. You’ll need your 7 – 9 hours of sleep per night to cope with added stresses. Poor sleep habits keep you jittery, irritable and feeling like you’re just dragging yourself around – certainly not happy.
If you have a lot of free time – no family or significant other around, find other things to do. Meet with friends, especially those who also have no family in town. Go to movies, an art gallery or fun comedy show. If you enjoy being alone, you can catch up with throwing out junk, cleaning your cupboards or doing a project of some sort over the holidays.
Short on cash? Family making you crazy? Or lonely?
Karen Sherman, PhD of Dr.KarenSherman.com is the author of several books that include Mindfulness and The Art of Choice: Transform Your Life (Winner: Best Personal Growth Book 2009, Walsh Seminar Series). Here is Dr. Karen Sherman’s advice on holiday happiness:
You feel alone and down about it. Volunteer your time in a soup kitchen. It’s been shown that helping others lifts your spirits.
You are with family who annoy you. Realize that everyone (even you) have imperfections. See the “whole” of the person and be happy that you have people to share the holiday with.
You are short on cash and feel like you can’t buy gifts that will make others happy. Create a coupon book that offers acts of kindness or statements of how much that person matters to you. These are far richer.
What makes us UNHAPPY? Food.
Certified Health Coach, Wendy Newman, M.A. The Personal Brand Coach and Co-Host of LifeBites Live TV show reminds us that our food choices impact our happiness. Wendy says:
“We eat a lot more over the holidays and it affects us and our mood more than most of us realize. Eat smaller amounts every 2-3 hours to avoid eating large quantities at parties and social functions. Eat something healthy before going to a social gathering so that you’re not as hungry and less likely to binge. Focus on the social part, not the food and drink part!”
How do you deal with your nightmare TO DO list?
Master Certified Life Coach, Melissa Miller Young, MLC, ZenLifeSolutions.com says:
Look over your have-to’s first of all, like your job and day in-day out obligations THEN, look at your Holiday dream (or nightmare, let’s be honest) to-do list. If you break out in a cold sweat or get nauseous just thinking about the list, chances are, you have too much on there to honestly get done.
Look at what you can and want to do, really be honest with yourself here, what will you enjoy DOING, not just getting done. The Holiday Season, like anything else, is about the journey NOT the destination. Put a star next to the things you really, truly want to do.
Now, go through the list and see what you can delegate. Can your partner run a few of those errands for you? Can you recruit your kids to help wrap some of the presents? Can you share the responsibility for the school Holiday play with some of the other parents? Delegate, delegate, delegate.
Last but not least, what on that list can you just let go. Honestly. Does your child’s teacher’s Holiday really hinge on the gift you spend hours making? Would they be just as happy with a gift card to a local coffee shop or with some fresh flowers? Do you really need to host your best friend’s book club Holiday party? Did you really offer to bake cookies for your daughter’s entire dance troupe? Wouldn’t they be just as happy with something from the local bakery?
Don’t kill yourself trying to be all things to all people. Be the things that YOU need to be this Holiday Season.
Its OK to focus on yourself.
Holistic Health Coach, Katie Bressack of Balanced-Beings.com reminds us that this time of year can be about YOU too.
Katie says “we are busy all of the time and even more around the holidays. Schedule time for YOU on your calendar. When you see your name pop up on your computer screen you know that this is your time to do something nice for yourself. Whether it is taking a five minute break from work to go on a walk or getting a massage. It is important to create time in your life for you”.
WATCH for more holiday stories from JenningsWire: The World Of Success
Our next holiday article will be about making homemade gifts that are fun to make, look fabulous and feel good to give.
All Heart, Annie
Creator of JenningsWire
By the way, here is the link to our first article in our on Holiday Series.
