3 STRATEGIES FOR MAINTAINING YOUR SANITY THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS

Less than a week ago we celebrated Halloween here in the US. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in a long time, however, there’s something about wanting to make the most of every minute of pregnancy that made me want to dress up this year.

Check out my expectant mother costume:

Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season. Regardless of your enthusiasm for the holidays, I’d like to encourage you to take care of yourself through this season of festivities and increased demands. As assistants, we instinctively put everyone else first. Please check out this video full of strategies for how to carve out time for yourself amidst the chaos of the holidays:

Check out the Video:

One final note, my pregnancy will be at term in two weeks! Which means 2 things:

1. There will be one last Resource Corner post next week and no further posts through the end of November. Be sure to check the blog in December for the most popular posts of 2019.

2. I will be announcing the birth of our son via email. If you’d like to receive the announcement please be sure to sign up for my email list and confirm your subscription below.

Sign me up!

Check out the Transcription: 

Hey there. I'm Annie of wholeassistant.com. Last week was the kickoff of the holiday season 2019. We celebrated Halloween. And today, we're going to be talking about self care through the holiday season. This is very important and vital for assistants, because without a good self care routine, we can burn out really, really easy. Not only do we have our own parties, our own presence to worry about, but oftentimes we'll have those things for our executive, as well. I know that I'm also a personal assistant in addition to being an executive assistant, and so I manage a lot of helping my boss and his wife plan their holiday parties, and scheduling for them, and then my own things on top of it. Then this year, I am pregnant. I'm probably about ready to pop in about another month or so, so self care for me right now is really important and it's front of mind for me, so I thought we would talk about that today.

My first tip for all of us when it comes to good self care through the holiday season is to do things that fill you up. For me, this can look like a mani-pedi, it can look like going for a nice walk by myself, or with my husband, or with our dog. But just you want to do things that will put you in a good place, in a good headspace, and you actually want to carve out time for those things. Write them on your calendar if necessary. I know I prioritize them on my to do list. Be sure to take care of yourself by doing things that fill you up.

I know in the past for me that's been tango. Anymore I don't, I can't go dancing in the evenings. I just don't have the energy, so I will take a nice relaxing bath. That is one way that I will feel filled up, and refreshed, and rejuvenated,. and I intend to carry it out through the holiday season. It can be so easy to put ourselves last guys, so I would really encourage you not to do that. I'd really encourage you to be sure to step up and make time for doing things that really fill you up.

Then number two is to just say no. If you don't want to go to your aunt's, uncle's, cousin's Christmas party, just say no. We can cut things out throughout the holidays. I know it doesn't feel like we can, I know it feels like we're obligated to go to the ugly sweater party, or should go find like a white elephant gift to bring to a party, or whatever. You can always opt-out of a part of it or all of it. So you can choose not to bring a white elephant gift and not participate. That is 100% okay if it's going to be more stressful for you. Or if you just want to skip the party altogether and just say, "I'm sorry, I have other plans." If you do have other plans, they are yourself care that I just spoke about. Be sure to just say no if you are just feeling like obligated to go and it won't fill you up and bringing happiness and true joy.

Then, my third tip is to get clear on your priorities and to just let everything else go. If your priority is to spend time with your family making a nice meal together. I know my husband and I like to make a nice meal of our family together throughout the holiday season or over Christmas, or New Year's. And we have to be very specific this year, because we're going to have a new baby in the house as well over Christmas and New Year's, so we're being very intentional with what we say yes to and what we say no to and we're getting very clear on our priorities.

Our first priority is to feel comfortable in our own home and to not push ourselves to take on too much, or to have too many people over, or to throw a party, or whatever. We're just kind of letting certain things go and we're prioritizing other things. It's totally okay to do that. This falls in line with the saying no piece that I spoke about in number two.

To review, the first piece of advice I gave you was to make time for things that fill you up. Secondly, just say no. And third, but certainly not least, is to get clear on your priorities and let the rest go. I hope you guys have a great holiday season. Next week, I'll be back with another Resource Corner post, and it is going to be so good. I'm actually talking with a friend of mine who is a chocolatier, so be sure to check back for that. Please leave a comment below. I want to hear what you do for self care throughout the holiday season and what your plan is to take care of yourself.

Okay guys, that's all for now. I'll talk with you soon.