Many people look forward to the holiday season with joy and with anticipation of fun family gatherings, shopping, holiday parties, time off of work, and family traditions. But every year I’m amazed by how quickly that anticipation can turn into stress, anxiety, guilt, sadness, and maybe even loneliness.

Instead of enjoying the events and activities of the season, we become overwhelmed with the busy-ness of it all, with the stress of everything that needs to get done, with feelings of guilt over all of the holiday treats we are indulging in, and with reminders of loved ones who we no longer have with us.

I have decided that I don’t want to just “get through” the holidays this year. I want to really make the most out of each day between now and New Year’s. I want to enjoy the time I spend with family and friends, and most of all, I don’t want to feel stressed out.

So, what about you? Are you ready to do more than just “survive” the holiday season? Are you ready to enjoy all that it has to offer, yet still stay healthy and take care of yourself?

If so, I want to offer you a few simple reminders to help you find peace during the holidays this year. These reminders will most likely not be new information to you, but they are ideas that we tend to forget to embrace when life starts to get crazy.

Focus on the Spirit of the Season

I know this may sound cliche, but really think about this for a minute…when you think about planning for and enjoying the holidays, what are the first things that come to mind?

For many of us, myself included, some of our first thoughts of the holidays involve food. We might focus on what we’re going to have for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, baking Christmas cookies, the goodie table at work, and cookie exchanges. We all know that no holiday get together or party would be complete without a wide array of deserts, right?!?

Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you that we need to avoid these holiday treats completely. But, what if instead of making food the primary focus of the holidays, we shift our focus to something else? Something that will have more meaning for us?

That “something” we focus on may be different for each of us depending on our beliefs and values, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• • Religious Beliefs: If you are a Christian, I know you believe that celebrating Christ’s birth is the meaning behind the Christmas season. I will admit, though, that even though this is what I believe, it is still so easy to get distracted by everything else that the holidays have to offer. So what if this year we spend 10 minutes every day focusing on the gift that has been given to us? That 10 minutes may be just enough to shift our focus so that we don’t allow ourselves to get so stressed out by the potential chaos and overwhelm during this season.

• • Time with Loved Ones: I know that time with family can be stressful for some people, but I would suggest that if you have people to spend the holidays with, be thankful for that. Instead of focusing on what you will be eating during that time together or the gifts you will be giving, focus instead on the activities you can do together and how you can enjoy your time with them. Try making the people you are spending time with the focus instead of what you will be eating.

• • Find a Purpose: For social events where food and drinks will be abundant, try giving yourself a specific challenge to help other people. For example, you could challenge yourself to find 3 people during the evening who aren’t talking with anyone and then talk with them. You could offer to help the host make sure the food and drinks are well stocked. Or you could offer to help clean up. Each of these challenges will help you focus on being of value to other people instead of focusing on all of the food available at the party.

• • Serving Others: The holiday season is an excellent time to focus on serving other people who are in need. Actively look for opportunities to help other people. You could even suggest that instead of having a holiday party with friends or co-workers that you volunteer together at a place like a local homeless shelter.

• Create Family Traditions: Evaluate your family holiday traditions to identify which ones do not involve food. Highlight these traditions or even start a new one.

Practice Gratitude

No matter how you approach the holidays, everyone can benefit by focusing on gratitude. By focusing on what we’re thankful for, we start crowding out thoughts of things that aren’t going well for us and the things that are causing us stress.

Practicing gratitude is such a simple tip that it’s easy to underestimate how powerful it can be. I can tell you from experience, though, that it truly can make a big difference on your attitude and perspective.

An easy way to incorporate gratitude into your holiday season is to keep a small notebook by your bed and each night write down 3 things that you are thankful for or that went well for you that day.

For some of you, it may be difficult to find three things that you are truly grateful for, so start with one. I truly believe that we can all find at least one good thing in every day. And most likely, once you start looking for things to be grateful for, you’ll be surprised by how much you find!

Deal With Stress

Does it seem ironic to anyone else that the holiday season brings so much stress to so many people? Stress seems to be quite the opposite of the purpose and meaning behind Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

Unfortunately, though, stress during this time is a fact for many people, so instead of ignoring it, pushing it aside, or adding to it, let’s take time this year to deal with it.

In spite of how busy this time of year can become, I think we can all find 10 minutes a day to deal with stress. If you struggle to find the time, remind yourself of what might happen if you don’t deal with it….maybe you become more irritable with your friends and family, more prone to overeating sweets and junk food, and less likely to enjoy the holidays overall.

Here are some tips to help manage your stress this year:

• • Exercise: Finding even 10 minutes to get active can help alleviate stress and help you feel better about yourself. This doesn’t have to be intense exercise. In fact, it might even be walking briskly at the mall while you’re doing your Christmas shopping!

• • Prayer or Meditation: Both of these practices are extremely powerful ways to reduce stress and refocus on what is truly important to you.

• • Yoga: When I’m feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, or anxious, I love to take a few minutes to do some yoga poses. One of the many amazing benefits of yoga just happens to be stress reduction. For those of you who are new to yoga, you can easily find free yoga videos online. One of my favorite sites is Do Yoga With Me. You can search for videos based on skill level and length of time.

• Self-care: Find opportunities to take care of yourself on a regular basis, even if it’s just for 10 minutes at a time. Some possibilities include taking a bath, listening to music, journaling, dancing, using essential oils, reading a good book, and deep breathing.

Embrace Peace

Are you willing to join me in preventing the holiday season from taking control of your life for the next 6 weeks?  Instead of passively accepting the busy-ness, stress, and abundance of food, let’s decide to consciously choose how we will spend our time, attention, and money.

Here’s what I am committed to doing: I will slow down and enjoy the simple, daily pleasures. I will focus on what is most important to me during the holidays. I will manage my stress. I will give myself the gift of self-care.

I encourage you to consider joining me in my commitment to peace this holiday season. Also, stay tuned for my post next week where I’ll share my top tips on how to eat healthy during the holidays without feeling deprived!

In the meanwhile, download my FREE guide to help get you started: “Top 10 Foods that Make It Easier to Lose Weight & Get Rid of Cravings”.

Please share in the comments below what you are committed to doing this holiday season!