Gooooood morning Eclectic Chic family! Guess what? It’s Thanksgiving morning!! You all know that Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It’s simplicity is what makes it so wonderful. Family, friends, food…and stretchy pants. What more could you ask for? As a kid, you have an idea of who you can’t wait to see, and what you can’t wait to eat on Thanksgiving. This year, as a grown adult woman, I am very content with the idea of simply not having to work today. Yesterday was my 27th day in a row working, and I am excited to be able to enjoy a couple of days off for the holiday. Between traveling to 3 cities in 3 weeks for the Auto show (Dallas, Tampa, and Charlotte), while presenting for the first time on the Enclave Sport Touring; and seeing back-to-back clients while home in Michigan, I have been a busy bee during the month of November. Hence, my brief absence from blogging…but, I’m back!
I know that the holidays can bring joy and excitement, but at times, individuals can also feel stressed, or maybe even sad during this time of year. Are you feeling some pre-holiday blues? Looking to get some joy and overall well-being back into your holiday season? If so, without further ado, and in no particular order, review these 5 tips to help you out:
- Visualize the life that you want, and set concrete, detailed short-term and long-term goals that will help to move you forward in the direction of achieving those goals. This will help to increase optimism and hope, while also providing you with something to look forward to and work towards
- Create a list of tasks that must need to be completed in order to achieve the aforementioned goals (from tip #1), and begin completing them. It often helps to create daily and weekly lists and review what has been completed at the end of the week to enjoy a sense of accomplishment and to prevent from becoming overwhelmed.
- Engage in Behavioral Activation, which is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) technique, that assists the individual in implementing problem-solving skills. Behavioral Activation also helps individuals with seeking and engaging in more reward-based, pleasurable activities. This may look like scheduling a quick specialty coffee break with a co-worker to look forward to after completing a work task. Thanks to one of my Auto Show co-workers treating me to a White Chocolate Mocha, I now know what joy tastes like…but I digress. Or engaging in a fun activity during the weekend after your household chores are finished (i.e. ice skating, or going to the movies are some examples of winter-friendly activities). Rewards are for everyone, not just children. Sometimes adults need a quick reminder to schedule rewards into their daily routine to help keep them motivated and productive.
- Identify unhealthy, irrational patterns of thinking, and dispute these thoughts by replacing them with more healthy, rational thoughts. This can be done with the aid of the ABCD thought log, which is a tool used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I practice this technique with my clients, and it helps to reduce anxiety, increase productivity and self-esteem, and engage in more healthy thinking patterns, amongst other benefits (if you need more support, please seek the assistance of a trained, licensed mental health provider).
- Incorporate daily mindfulness techniques into your routine. This may look like setting aside 10 or so minutes in the morning or at nighttime to complete a mindfulness activity to quiet your mind, reduce tension, stress, and anxiety, promote a healthy sleep routine, and bring your awareness into the present moment. Some of my favorite mindfulness techniques I like to review with clients includes PMR (Progressive Muscles Relaxation), Guided Imagery, and Guided Meditations.
Well, there you have it fam! I hope you enjoyed this post! I promise, I won’t stay gone for so long this time. I’ve got a nice lineup of features that I cannot wait to share with you for this holiday season. Stay tuned! Have a wonderful Eclectic Chic Thanksgiving holiday!
Great tips, thanK you for sharing ❤️
Great post! I will use your tIps this holiday season.
LOVE this post, thank you so much for sharing! 💗 I’m working on something similar to publish soon too so this was really relatable. Would love to link this post on it when it’s ready, would that be ok?
What great and helpful points! This can be a very sad and stressful time of year!
These tips are great! The holidays are my favorite time of the year! But I also get stressed because I feel like all my ambitions for the year went right out the window. I focus on what I haven’t done instead of what I have accomplished. I know I need to switch that mindset.