Don’t Let the Holiday Madness Make you Crazy!

December can be a stressful time of year, your money is tight, you’re trying to balance work (sometimes multiple jobs), family, make time for yourself, and you want to get your life right in preparation for next year. The first thing I need most of you to do is stop all the whining and bi*****, Keep Calm, breathe and use some of these tips:

SAY NO!

Ohhh this is a tip that I hold dear to my heart. Listen, you already have plenty going on and this is not the time where you can be everything to everyone. Now is the time to put the important things first and say NO to the bulls***. That doesn’t only apply to saying no to unreasonable people, but sometimes we have to say no to Facebook, Twitter, and many of the distractions that we have that waste valuable time during the holidays.

EXPRESS GRATITUDE

Express how grateful you are, write it down, and think about everything that you have been blessed with. It’s amazing how quickly attitude changes when you take a second to stop and think about how many ways you have been blessed. Heck if you have to, send a card out to people expressing how thankful you are to have them in your life. This medicine is better than Xanax.

GET SOME SLEEP! AND DRINK WATER

Listen, the traffic is making you cranky, kids are working your nerves with all of their expensive requests for the holidays, and your significant other is acting crazy. Stop, Breathe and remember being cranky can only make these situations worse. So, if you are tired, get some rest and if you are hungry, get a good meal (preferably a healthy one). Respect your physical and emotional limits!

PREPARE THE NIGHT BEFORE

Spend about 20 minutes the night before getting ready for the next day. Don’t get up the next day without a plan in mind on how you plan on conquering your tasks that day. Plan your meals, plan what the kids will wear, heck even mentally run through the day if you have to. Don’t be scatterbrained man!

DONATE

Not only does donating those old shoes, that old bag, those old holiday decorations and appliances a great thing for someone in need. But, making space and having a clean and serene home does a lot for your sanity. So be a blessing to someone and to yourself, grab a bag, walk through the house and make it happen!

PUT IT AWAY….NOW!

We all do it. We walk in the house, throw something down saying we’ll pick it up later. We throw the coat on the couch saying we’ll hang it up later. We throw our books on the kitchen table saying we’ll put it on the bookshelf in a second. Next thing you know…its stuff everywhere, you can’t find your phone, where did you put that charger, damnit man! Just taking a few extra seconds to place things in their rightful place will alleviate stress.

SCALE BACK

This is important! You don’t have to do what you did last year. You don’t need to spend ten thousand this year on Holiday gifts. If you don’t have it…so what! Nobody’s going to die because they didn’t get the new Xbox. If you can’t afford it, guess what, it’s OK, you’re not in the park by yourself! Keep it moving and prepare for your new year—cause aint nobody got time for that! Set a budget, set spending limits, and it all else fails – tell the people you love that you thought about buying them a great gift, and since it’s the thought that counts – Merry Christmas!