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The holidays are once again upon us, and if you’re like me, finding enough hours in the day to tick off everything on the to-do list is just about impossible.
Sound familiar? All too often the meaning of the holidays gets lost as we get caught up in the frenzy of the shopping, the planning, the cooking and entertaining, and everything else that makes this time of year very special, but also quite chaotic.
This year, don’t let the frenzy and stress of the holidays steal away from its meaning. Slow down, and savor the holidays with these five tips.
How to Slow Down and Enjoy the Holidays
1. Don’t bring your phone to the table. The holidays come only once a year, and it’s one of the few times that we’re all able to be together with our family and friends. For the holiday season, try leaving your phone behind for every meal you share with family and friends. Appreciate the time you have with them now. Your emails and texts will still come to your phone no matter what, but you’ll never get the time back to spend with those you love most.
2. Spend as much time as you can outside. Research continues to show just how beneficial it is for us to spend time in the great outdoors. Not only is it a powerful way to combat and reduce stress, it has also been shown to eliminate fatigue, fight depression, lower blood pressure, and improve your ability to focus. This holiday season, reap the plethora of benefits that come with spending time in nature. Use any reason you can to get outside, whether it’s taking a walk to look at the lights, going for an easy jog, ice skating, or decorating your front porch.
3. Cook together. A lot of the activities around the holidays revolve around food. Shopping for food, preparing it, and finally savoring it are all activities we associate with the holidays. This holiday season, make every effort to make the cooking a social, festive event. Cooking together is a great way to engage with your loved ones, and it also reminds us to be grateful for what we already have. Plus, it will make the preparation that much easier when everyone is helping out in some way.
4. Eat mindfully. In most other countries around the world, slowing down to eat and savor a meal is normal. Whereas in America, we plow through as fast as we can so we can move on as quickly as possible. This holiday season, slow down and savor the food. Recognize the effort that went into preparing the meal, and show gratitude for the food set before you. Eating a meal, especially with loved ones, should be enjoyable and relaxing, not something to tick off on a list.
5. Enjoy the ritual. Rituals that may seem normal around the holidays (e.g., decorating the tree) can often become something that has to ‘get done’ before a specified date. Perhaps your goal is to get the tree up right after Thanksgiving, or to send out holiday Christmas cards the first week of December. Instead of marking these rituals as something that must be accomplished on your to-do list, shift your perspective a little, and enjoy it for the holiday ritual that it is.
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