What could be stressful about the winter holiday season? Oh – you say you have too many things to do to get ready? Oh – nobody is around and you’re feeling lonely? Oh – what gifts should I get? What gift(s) do I want? What am I going to do about my diet? And the list goes on . . .
Let’s look at some of those issues one at a time:
You have too many tasks.
I love the Eisenhower Matrix for helping me prioritize and organize tasks. It recommends identifying how important or urgent something is. See if it doesn’t help you decide where to spend your time and energy.
You try to multi-task.
- It doesn’t work! How often have you had a fall, injured yourself, or made a mistake in some project, because your mind was in one place, while your body was doing something else?
A great strategy I learned from my work with Landmark Worldwide (LandmarkWorldwide.com) is what I adapted to “Start – Act – Stop.” It simply means that for one activity at a time, you start it – do the activity, as long or as short as it may be – and at some point you declare it done/complete. You them start – act – stop the next project.
I use that strategy throughout the day. It allows me to focus on one thing at a time, and progress easily to the next thing.
Try it with all your tasks, from washing and placing a dish into the dish drain, to writing a book, where you may S-A-S for anything from a paragraph to a whole chapter. Do you get the picture?
As for that “diet.”
I had a very dear friend, Lynn, who was one of those people who became a victim of on-off dieting. You may already be aware that people who “diet” generally gain more weight than they hadc originally when they stop. Lynn also said, “Look at the first three letters of the work diet.”
So what’s a good option for you if you are concerned about gaining weight over the holidays? Don’t stress! The best idea might be to focus on conscious eating. In my book, “Aging Safely, Wisely, and Well – A Movement and Mindset Guide for Older Adults” (The Book – Thera Fitness), I emphasize doing a lot of things consciously, especially those things we tend to do automatically, without thinking, like breathing and eating.
If you tackle eating consciously, you can be more selective about the foods you choose to eat, and the quantity. There’s no need to deprive yourself of many of the goodies that tend to appear during the holidays, just choose what and how much you put on your plate – or in your glass. Here’s something you may want to keep in mind: It takes the brain about 20 minutes to register that it has had enough to eat. So, let’s say you’ve eaten what’s on your plate. See if you can wait 15 to 20 minutes before you think about going for seconds. You may find you don’t want them anymore!
What about my “stress?!?”
Besides making use of the strategies above, remember to do that “conscious breathing.” Here you want your attention to be on doing slow, prolonged, exhalations, either through your nose or with pursed lips. I often make a gentle “w—h—e—w” or hissing sound, like how a leaky tire would sound (s-s-s-s-s-s- . . . )
Exhalations are the relaxation phase of breathing and are a great tool for decreasing stress and blood pressure, and increasing energy. There’s more discussion of using breathing as a tool for improved health in “Aging Well . . .”
Finally – but not really . . .Gratitude!
Whatever your holiday stressors may be, find any and all the things/people, etc. you have to be thankful for.
Personally, I am grateful that you have taken the time to read this blog. I will also be grateful if you buy my book, benefit from it, and let me know.
