Shopping, parties, gift wrapping, travel arrangements, the list goes on of the things you have to do when you’re getting ready for the holidays. Where does your health fall in that list of To Dos?
Two things can help you get through the holidays to stay sane and healthy.
Prioritize and Schedule.
Prioritize
Your priorities sort of define who you are in life. If you prioritize your husband and kids over everything, you’re a great mom and wife. If you prioritize your work over everything, you’re a great business person. If you prioritize your workouts and meals, you’re a fit nut. Your priorities are you! But prioritizing yourself first DOES NOT make you selfish. Keep reading to find out why.
This season when you prioritize your life, where do you fall?
Mine for example, most important first:
My health: gym time and healthy eating (doing a cleanse before Christmas)
My career: making sure my clients are taken care of so when I am gone for the holidays I’m available when I need to be and checking my emails during business hours.
Family: Booking my trip home for Thanksgiving and Christmas to make sure I can see them this year.
Finances: Paying bills and forecasting two months ahead to see how much I can spend on holiday shopping.
Gift Shopping: Getting gifts before mid December
Notice I put my health first. You don’t have to put that very first but it should be in your top 3. Why? Because if you aren’t performing as your best self, you cannot take care of others and life tasks with the best of your abilities.
I also put finances above gift shopping so I don’t feel the stress on my bank account when I return from holiday travels and aren’t swimming in credit card debt in 2019.
What are your top 5? Take out a piece of paper and write down your top 5 priorities. Put this list somewhere you see it everyday and remember daily what you need to do.
Schedule
I remember the fist time I heard “it’s not real until it’s scheduled.” It’s so simple, and yet so powerful. I notice that if I don’t put something on my schedule, I tend to either forget about it and not do it, or make it a very low priority and something that I do “if I have time.” But if you make time, you’ll always get it done.
Take your priority list, start with schedule from top priority down. Schedule sleeps, workouts, shopping time, time to sit down and book your trips, whatever you need to get done to commit to your top priorities.
Scheduled are great to keep you on track, but be flexible. Know that there is going to be things that come up and know that things can be moved around and rescheduled as needed. Don’t sweat the small stuff!
Summary
So this holiday season, whip out the ole schedule and give it a go. Take down your priorities and schedule it out. There are only about 6 weeks left of the year (yes you heard me!) so let’s make them the best and least stressful as possible on yourself.
Take care of your bad self!
Liz <3