The holiday season of late fall through winter definitely brings its share of good times, good tidings, and good food. But it can also bring some challenges and stress, such as getting sick, winter travel, and extremely busy schedules. Thankfully, there is help out there! Here are some of the tools we turn to during the tough times of the season. We hope they will help you too.
When Your Schedule Is Jam-Packed
End-of-year work deadlines. Social plans. Decorating, shopping, and cooking. It’s no surprise you might feel like you’re about to burst from the stress of it all. First, take a few deep breaths. Ahh, that’s better. Next, it’s time to lighten your load. What can you delegate, eliminate from your schedule, or postpone? Overcommitting is a habit you can break with some attention and intention. And for those calendar commitments you absolutely must keep, here are some tools that may help:
- Use your phone to help keep your appointments. Setting alerts is easy and helpful, as is the calendar function (Google Calendar is free and easy to use). The Cozi app also works well for sharing appointments and events with family members or groups (try the free version!).
- Keep self-care on your schedule. Block off time for self-care activities, like a massage or your weekend walk with friends, just like other appointments. Especially when it comes to time for ourselves, if it’s not scheduled, it may not happen. And managing a stressful season of the year (or season of life) does take some thought. But it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Practices like meditation can act as a “reset” so you are better able to handle your busy life. It can be as short as five minutes a day if that’s what works for you.
- Time-blocking might be new to you. It can help you tame your cluttered to-do list and plan time into your schedule for different types of commitments. If you like seeing how your day will look, you may find color-coding blocks of time helpful and appealing.
When You Have to Travel
When it comes to winter season or holiday travel, so much of it is out of our hands. We can’t control the weather, the crowds, the delays, the lines. What can we control? Our preparation, our patience, and our attitudes.
- Keep some relaxing music queued up in your headphones, or download the free version of a meditation app. When travel stress starts to bubble up, you can keep your calm.
- If you’re road-tripping, check your route ahead of time. You can see where you may want to take stretch breaks, get a meal, or see something interesting along the way. Wellness on the road is possible.
- If you’ll be staying in a rental or hotel room with a kitchenette, keep some food basics on hand. Then you won’t be forced to go out every time you get hungry. Use this list for stocking your rental kitchen. And keep meals simple—nobody needs the added stress of cooking complicated food while away from home.
- Order groceries from the local grocery store app and lean into the “to go” pickup option once you’ve arrived. It gives you back a little time, and we all know that’s precious.
When You Don’t Feel Well
Are you supposed to feed a cold or starve a fever? Figuring that out is nothing compared to trying to keep the household running smoothly while you’re sick. Doing laundry? Shopping for household essentials? Keeping everything a passable level of tidy? Some things can wait, but others not so much—like having nourishing food to support healing and recovery. Here are a few tips to help make that happen more easily.
- A shared list app like List Ease is handy for having someone else pop into the store for groceries. It’s basic, totally free, and allows you to recuperate at home. It can also help you budget your food expenses and keep a stock list of items you have at home. Let the person who is shopping know that choosing foods with more Guiding Stars is an easy way to get better-for-you options. The stars appear on product packages, shelf tags, and signage throughout stores that offer Guiding Stars.
- Keep things simple in the meals department. A few easy ideas might include using the slow cooker and relying on your pantry and freezer contents. It doesn’t have to be the best thing you’ve ever made, just reasonably tasty and somewhat healthy and balanced. Extra points if it’s also comforting and warming.
- Meal kit delivery (and prepared meal delivery) is an easy way to get food in the house when you don’t feel like shopping (or aren’t able to). There are so many types of meal delivery services these days. Browse the internet for what appeals to you and also fits your health and nutrition needs. These services can also bring variety (and some fun!) into your diet without much effort on the cook’s part. And it doesn’t have to be every day—even just a couple of meals a week can be very helpful.