This time of the year is always a bum rush to the end of the year. It feels like the shortest month—even though there are 31 days officially. It is, however, the shortest month of the year in terms of daylight hours so it also feels like days are truncated. Coupling the short days with end of the year business financials, holiday obligations with friends and family and all styles of celebrations. I love this time of year. It is the time of year in which I live off adrenaline though and burn candles (literally) for day-long durations.
Needless to say, this month can be the most stressful time of the year. The stress multiplies for those that have children and for those that either own their business or those that bear the title of President/CEO, COO, CFO, etc. The demands and expectations can soar through the roof. It becomes a hell of a juggling act.
Dinners. Parties. Baked goods sent to your office. Lower vitamin D levels with lack of going outside. Indulgence to offset the high stress of getting everything done. When all is said and done, it’s a formula for depression in the extreme and minor weight gain and exhaustion on the lesser side of the spectrum for many people.
All of this isn’t to say that this time of year can’t be a time where you can have your peppermint bark and eat it too. It’s really about formulating a plan ahead of time as best as possible within your assumed constraints. “Out of sight, out of mind” tends to work for most people. Holiday treats can be limited just by keeping them off your desk or out of your home. Remove yourself from the area in which they are at work. Give the excess away to friends or those in need if you have too much at home. I only reserve holiday treats for the evening after I have finished dinner. I don’t tell myself “no”—I have what I truly want. I take only the amount I would give to my kids and savor what I do have.
Work levels can really get out of control this time of year too. Being able to shut off electronics at night is extremely helpful to get a better night’s sleep. Even being able to turn off wifi during sleep is good for the
brain. I reserve my blue blocking glasses when I watch TV in the evening only. I wake up to red lights in the morning and then, like most people, look at emails and work-related items. According to Stanford neurology professor Andrew Huberman, sunlight for anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 minutes can help balance cortisol and melatonin levels and improve sleep, recovery and daytime work production. Ideally, getting sunlight before coffee is the most optimal.
Children can be the most challenging this time of year especially for those parents who live in seasonal areas of the world. Getting them outdoors is particularly challenging when it’s so cold. In my household, we turn music on in the morning as opposed to the TV first thing. We encourage non-electronic games and puzzles instead of viewing television shows for at least the first 3 hours. Suggestions for gifts for Christmas from out extended families revolve around the non-video game/electronic devices and lean toward the hand-dexterous challenges like building blocks, memory games and books. Granted, our children are young and as they age it can be harder to contain technology. That being said, if you have the chance to curtail the tv viewership of kids at a younger age, it will make the transition to reading books and engaging in physical activity much easier as the age.
I love this time of year. One of the things I do is to allow myself to have the things I want, but I make a deal with myself beforehand to only have a what will satisfy my cravings with a large glass of water. Depriving myself entirely of the things I look forward to—celebrations, dinners that I am a guest at, holiday treats and a little overall self indulgence—will only cause me to want them more at a later time. The holidays should not be a time of regret and saying “I’ll start my good self/resolutions (insert some future date)”, but rather a time to enjoy friends and family, spoil yourself with once-a-year treats and take in some holiday fun. I can guarantee these behavior changes will make each passing holiday time something you look forward to instead of resisting. And it makes your “resolutions” more of an achievable task as well.
