How to survive December
'Twas the night before this newsletter goes to press, and all through the house, here is where things stand tomorrow when you read this:
Days until Christmas: 20
Days until New Year's Eve: 26
List of incomplete tasks:
Putting away the decorations and gifts following my son's December 1 birthday
Working with my son on his thank you notes
Opening and dealing with stack of boxes (holiday gifts) in foyer
Opening and sorting this week's mail
Getting a Christmas tree
Decorating the tree
Decorating the inside of the house
Decorating the outside of the house
Buying Christmas presents
Generating returns for and mailing back several early Black Friday purchases
Finishing preparing my son for his First Reconciliation this weekend
Completing family faith homework due this weekend
List of complete tasks: Sending holiday cards (includes ordering, stuffing, gluing, stamping, and going to post office).
You'll note that one list is MUCH longer than the other. So know that you're not alone with all the things to do. LET'S NORMALIZE THAT! And trust me when I say, it will get done. It always does. Part of that involves letting go of the preferred time schedule and instead setting aside time to execute microsteps to complete each task. So here's how I'm surviving the next 26 days:
Giving myself grace. It's really that simple. I'll choose to be kind to myself rather than tell myself I'm a failure for what I haven't accomplished. 'Nuff said.
Celebrating tiny victories. Yes, I'm absolutely patting myself on the back for completing all the steps required for mailing out our holiday cards this week. Each. One. Was. A. Win. I'm focusing on breaking down, completing, and celebrating each step of all the outstanding tasks: hour by hour, day by day.
Honoring my non-negotiable stress relief. For me, this is both daily exercise and reading. I must start my day with moving my body and end it with reading. If I don't exercise first thing, I'm a jittery mess and feel "off"; if I don't read every night, my stress compounds because I didn't unwind. We all have our "thing" (like a cup of coffee in silence in the morning or laughing at a rerun of our favorite sitcom) and right now, it is our ONLY daily "must do."
So I'll sign off now because the rest of my night is "booked." (I couldn't resist.) But I'd love to know, how are you getting through? What's your non-negotiable?
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