Create a realistic budget, covering everything from gifts and travel to food and decorations, and stick to it. Also, consider simplifying decorations by focusing on one or two key areas of your home or reusing items from previous reframing holidays in early recovery years. By dialing back on unnecessary expenses and efforts, you can focus on creating memories and meaningful moments that won’t leave you feeling drained or overwhelmed. Share holiday tasks like decorating, cooking, and wrapping gifts with family or friends. Delegating not only eases your workload but also creates opportunities for bonding and shared memories.
Example 3: From personalization to perspective
Past family relationship patterns or memories of loved ones that are no longer with us may also evoke difficult feelings. As the holiday season approaches, it’s crucial to embrace the power of self-care and boundaries. These practices will not only help you enjoy the season to its fullest but also protect your physical and emotional well-being. Remember that taking care of yourself doesn’t mean being selfish; it means being responsible for your happiness and overall health. So, this holiday season, make a commitment to nurture yourself alongside the festivities, and you’ll find that you can savor the joy of the season even more.
Setting and Enforcing Boundaries
- Exercise has enormous mental health benefits, from improving your mood to releasing endorphins.
- Read the article below and find out everything about the ABCDE method, how it works and what the benefits are.
- The pressure behind accomplishing personal and professional tasks can take its toll.
- From gift shopping and family gatherings to endless parties and obligations, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
- By acknowledging their perspective, you show empathy while still standing firm in your decision.
But constantly putting others first at the expense of your own wellbeing isn’t healthy or sustainable. Feeling guilty doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong — it’s just a sign that you’re stepping out of your comfort zone and prioritizing your needs. When you set boundaries, it’s natural for family members to have reactions and feelings, they’re human after all. While some might accept them and be understanding, others could feel hurt, frustrated, or even upset.
Long-Term Holiday Season Resilience
In some cases, you may need to limit your interactions with that person to protect your peace. This doesn’t mean cutting them out of your life entirely, but it might mean spending less time with them or avoiding certain situations where their behavior tends to be a problem. Another technique is grounding, which involves focusing on your physical surroundings to anchor yourself in the present. This exercise can help pull you out of anxious thoughts and into the here and now. This can help calm your nervous system and bring you back to the present moment. Sometimes, people will push back or try to convince you to change your mind around your boundary.
- It’s very important to prioritize your health and be mindful of your recovery coping mechanisms.
- When you hold your ground with kindness, it shows that your boundary is non-negotiable, even if others don’t agree with it.
- Sometimes, all it takes is a soak in a candlelit bubble bath — or curling up under a cozy blanket with a relaxing playlist and a warm beverage — to restore a sense of calm.
How to set assertive (but nice) boundaries during the holidays
By prioritizing self-care and meaningful moments, you can create a festive season that feels authentic and guilt-free. The holidays can bring a lot of joy, but they also come with expectations and pressures that can feel overwhelming. They help you create a sense of balance, protect your time and energy, and make room for what truly matters to you. Let’s break down the key types of boundaries you might need during the holiday season and how to set them with confidence and kindness.
Let’s be kind to both our bodies and minds by keeping a good balance of ambition and reasonability to meet ourselves in the place we currently are. Finding out how to reset after the holidays does not mean wearing yourself down more. Don’t let yourself feel intimidated by the task and remember that if you are feeling the blues a bit (or a lot!) that is totally normal. Give yourself some grace and gently remind yourself to do what you can and that whatever that is, it’s enough. It’s easy to get distracted by time wasters and the little things in your life or simply get caught up in your routine. Once you adventured on the ABCDE Method, you’ll feel automatically fulfilled after finishing some of the A tasks.
So, also in your free time, you can plan to have lunch or dinner with a friend and even organize a little soirée with your family. You’ll also be able to discover the best tips about it and what to avoid while applying this method to your life. With that, we can accomplish whatever we want, on a personal or a professional level. We want to help you make the most out of it using the ABCDE prioritization method. Setting a boundary doesn’t mean ignoring how others might feel about it. By acknowledging their perspective, you show empathy while still standing firm in your decision.
Budget Smartly and Plan Ahead
You can bake some of your favorite treats, go ice skating or buy yourself a present. If you’ve found that Sober living home the busyness of the season has caused you to drop a hobby, try picking it up again. When you do something you love, you can collect your energy for the holiday events to come.
Make sure to practice this method to incorporate it perfectly into your life. As human beings struggle to get things done daily, our minds automatically find the easiest tasks to finish. Through this ABCDE approach, your priorities will be more accurately determined, making you feel different.
Acknowledge due dates and set “to-do” dates.
The dad-of-four entered the drinks market with a canned cocktail brand, but quickly saw that they lost their appeal as soon as they got warm. We’re here to help you reset, recharge, and get back on track with your goals and routines. Anything that can help you visualize your time and the time you need to complete tasks is a worthwhile tool for effective prioritization. This may include project management software (like Trello, Monday, or Asana) as well. Find the method that works for you and you’ll see that it’s going to be much easier to manage your workload.