{"id":1386,"date":"2017-12-14T12:54:16","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T20:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.checkworks.com\/blog\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2020-10-15T15:01:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T23:01:43","slug":"grace-under-pressure-how-to-zap-the-holiday-crazies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/grace-under-pressure-how-to-zap-the-holiday-crazies\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Under Pressure: How to Zap the Holiday Crazies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.checkworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bigstock-212716822.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1387 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.checkworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bigstock-212716822-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bigstock-212716822-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bigstock-212716822-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bigstock-212716822-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bigstock-212716822-624x417.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By MJ Plaster<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the most wonderful time of the year,\u201d right? Not necessarily. For many people, it\u2019s second only to election season on the crazy scale. Between Thanksgiving and the New Year, there\u2019s precious little time between work, professional functions, shopping, decorating, attending parties and hosting family-and-friend get togethers. The week before Christmas starts the \u201cfull-on crazy\u201d period.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>How can you keep up work performance and efficiently manage all the holiday tasks and cheer without coming unglued? Below you\u2019ll find a few holiday scenarios along with suggestions to turn down the heat.<\/p>\n<p>Setting Holiday Boundaries at Home<br \/>\nWhen your home life is in disarray, you can\u2019t perform optimally at work. The holidays place a strain on family life. Without setting boundaries at home, one family member always carries the bulk of the load. Judging by the fact that you\u2019re reading this article, it\u2019s a good bet that someone is you.<\/p>\n<p>Setting boundaries is a skill I acquired from watching my mother. Our family went in cycles. We divvied up holiday chores, and one by one, everyone slacked off until my mother was left to do everything herself. Then she would go on strike to make her point. Rinse, lather, repeat. We got by with exactly as much as she would allow\u2014and your family will too if you don\u2019t set boundaries. My mother made it abundantly clear that you can rein in recalcitrant family members, and if you stick to your guns, you will win.<\/p>\n<p>Every family dynamic is different, but you will find one or more suggestions below that you can implement to help you ease holiday stress at home.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trees don\u2019t decorate themselves. Teenagers are the worst, but if you leave that tree bare long enough, someone will pitch in and help. Further, your house doesn\u2019t have to resemble something out of Christmas Vacation.<\/li>\n<li>You are probably not a personal shopper, but if you are, you don\u2019t have to be your family\u2019s personal shopper. The rest of the family can jolly well do their own holiday shopping.<\/li>\n<li>No one died and left you chief present wrapper and bottle washer.<\/li>\n<li>Once upon a time, the person who held the holiday dinner did all the cooking and cleanup. If you\u2019re hosting the dinner for a crowd, you can ask everyone to bring a side dish. It\u2019s also acceptable to use high-end disposable plates and glassware. Your house isn\u2019t the Ritz, and even if you\u2019re a stay-at-home parent, formal entertaining is so 1950s. Twenty-first century entertaining is meant to be fun, not stifling.<\/li>\n<li>Simplify everything and tell the family to lower their expectations. If you\u2019ve always catered your own parties, reduce the menu (and possibly the head count) and supplement with store-bought party platters.<\/li>\n<li>Learn to accept help even if no one can do the job as well as you can.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Pamper Yourself<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nIn addition to setting boundaries, make time to take care of yourself. Get as much sleep as possible, try to maintain your exercise regimen and watch what you eat. No one\u2019s saying you must deprive yourself at holiday get-togethers. If you can start your day with a healthy smoothie instead of a Danish, it will make up for your eating sins later that day. Take a protein bar to work for a snack. Rely on healthy substitutions when you\u2019re not partying, and never attend a party on an empty stomach. We don\u2019t need to tell you to watch your alcohol consumption. You don\u2019t want to work while you\u2019re nursing a hangover.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t want to get a massage, book a mani-pedi and take advantage of the massage chairs. There\u2019s no extra charge, and aside from feeling like you\u2019ve died and gone to heaven, it relaxes tight muscles the rest of the day. Keep the feeling going by soaking in a hot bath with Epsom salt, baking soda and lavender essential oil at night.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Stick to Your Budget<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nEvery holiday season, people overspend and then worry when the bills come due. Make a budget and stick to it. If your office exchanges gifts, give homemade goodies from the kitchen. You can whip up spice mixes, chutney and baked to help you stay within your budget.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Setting Office and Professional Boundaries<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nEveryone is frazzled during the holidays, so tempers are short. Use the tactics below to mitigate the crazy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Take a break<\/strong>. Get away from the office for a few minutes. Take a brisk walk, or find some solitude for a few minutes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Refuse to get sucked into arguments.<\/strong> Remember that your co-workers are also under stress, so don\u2019t take anything personally.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Assume the Scarlett O\u2019Hara role.<\/strong> Put off until tomorrow what doesn\u2019t have to get done today. This is not meant as everyday advice, but it can serve you well during the holidays.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Send regrets.<\/strong> Be selective about attending professional parties so you have time to spend with family and friends.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Just say no.<\/strong> When co-workers ask if you\u2019ll help with their load, you can refuse nicely.<\/li>\n<li><strong>When all else fails\u2026 breathe.<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/yogainternational.com\/article\/view\/learning-to-exhale-2-to-1-breathing\"> Yoga International <\/a>suggests 2\u20131 breathing, where you exhale twice as long as you inhale. \u201cWhen we are under pressure, thinking stressful thoughts, we make ourselves tighter and more tense by inhaling longer than we\u2019re exhaling,\u201d the organization reports. You can do this anywhere: Start by simply breathing and becoming aware of inhaling and exhaling. Once you\u2019ve relaxed, take three deep breaths, hold them for the same count, and then exhale to the count of six. Repeat several times. \u201cWhen practiced correctly, 2-to-1 breathing eliminates volatile wastes from the lungs while calming and nurturing the nervous system.\u201d If you\u2019re experienced at deep breathing, you can inhale and exhale for higher counts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Office and Professional Parties<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nEvery family has a crazy Uncle Joe, and every office has a Creepy Joe. In light of the rampant sexual harassment accusations, it\u2019s possible that Creepy Joe will mind his manners. It would behoove everyone to play it safe this year at office parties.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid mistletoe.<\/li>\n<li>Dress appropriately. You\u2019re not entering on the red carpet.<\/li>\n<li>If alcohol is served, watch your intake.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/susanadams\/2013\/12\/02\/how-not-to-behave-at-the-office-party-2\/#485f072f6927\">Forbes<\/a> suggests limiting conversation to safe subjects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Office and networking parties are an extension of the everyday workplace, so act accordingly to stay out of trouble. Remember, you\u2019re under a microscope every minute you\u2019re in a professional setting.<\/p>\n<p>This will pass in a few weeks, and life will return to normal at home and at work. At that point, you can begin to break your New Year\u2019s resolutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By MJ Plaster \u201cIt\u2019s the most wonderful time of the year,\u201d right? Not necessarily. For many people, it\u2019s second only to election season on the crazy scale. Between Thanksgiving and the New Year, there\u2019s precious little time between work, professional functions, shopping, decorating, attending parties and hosting family-and-friend get togethers. The week before Christmas starts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1386"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1848,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386\/revisions\/1848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}