Are You Heading for Christmas Overwhelm?

The Christmas pressure is already starting to build……

It can be an exhausting time of year right now and as women we seem to experience it even more than men.

Are you feeling overwhelmed sitting looking at your to-do list and not knowing where to start? There are so many things you have to think about……

How to clear your desk before Christmas….. and maybe organizing the staff party….as well as doing the Christmas shopping, sorting out the tree, taking the children to see Father Christmas, wrapping the presents, getting the house clean, doing the food shopping, going to the school carol concert or nativity play,writing and sending the cards…and lots of other things.It can seem like the list is endless.

And there never seems to be enough time to do it.

You can end up feeling exhausted before you even start. And the problem is that the more overwhelmed you get, the more ineffective you are at dealing with it. It becomes a vicious circle.

(If you’re not sure whether or not you’re heading for overwhelm you can check out the 6 danger signs here.)

Now much as I would like to, I can’t do the Christmas shopping for you, or wrap the presents or cook your dinner….

but what I can do instead is help you to reduce the stress because the earlier you start to do this the more stress free your Christmas will be.

Here are 7 steps to help you start to get rid of the overwhelm.

1. Stop and recognize it’s OK

Just stop what you are doing and recognize it’s OK to be overwhelmed. Its perfectly normal to be overwhelmed and stressed when you have all this stuff going on.Give yourself a break! Accept you’re not at your best and recognize it’s fine that you’re not.

2. Change your state

Stand up, go for a walk outside, have a cappuccino in a local cafe, listen to a piece of music that makes you feel good, do deep breathing for 5 mins, do a mindfulness exercise, do F.L.O.W. (if you know that process). It doesn’t matter what it is as long as you change your state.

3. Write it all out

Take a piece of paper and write it all out- everything that you have to do, everything that is competing for your attention in as much detail as you can.

4. Delete and Delegate

Look at each item on your list and ask yourself “What’s the worst thing that would happen if it didn’t get done?”

and if it’s not serious then delete it from your list. This doesn’t mean it will never get done, it’s just not a priority right now.

For those items that remain ask your self “Who else could do it instead of me?” and then delegate the ones that someone else could do.

This will leave the items that only you, and nobody else on the entire planet, can do.

5. Prioritize

Refocus on why you are doing all this anyway and then prioritize the order in which you will do the things that only you can do.

6. Replenish

Take time out to replenish your energy. This can be as simple as repeating step 2 or of you do this at home, go and have a nice relaxing bath, put your feet up with a cup of tea- whatever it is that will make you feel more energized.

7. Take action

You will have heard the old adage – how do you eat an elephant? – one bite at a time.

So take action on that first bite. Reward yourself for having accomplished it.

Then rinse and repeat!

Here’s to a stress free Christmas!

Cath

P.S. I am offering a number of free, no obligation Overwhelm Rescue Sessions in the next couple of weeks. If you want help to make overwhelm a thing of the past, to stop having to keep the plates spinning (or balls in the air) and want a way of making your life easier and stress free in 2023 then click here to book a session.

It might just be the best present you could give yourself …….