Personal Leadership for Women: Holiday Stress

The holiday season is a wonderful time of year.  It is can also be an extremely stressful time of year.

The following are a few suggestions for dealing with holiday stress that I have found useful.

• Things do not have to be perfect.  It is more important to enjoy being with family and friends than that the house be immaculately clean and decorated and the meal perfectly fabulous.  Is anyone besides you really going to notice?
• Probably not everything planned has to be completed.  Are there things that you can just let go?
• Many of our deadlines we set ourselves.  Are there things that can wait until after the holidays?
• It is acceptable to tell people no when they ask you to do something that you just do not have the time or desire to do.
• Squeeze in a little time for you to just relax.

No matter what you do or don’t do, the holidays will soon be just another memory.  Focus on what will make it a great memory for you and don’t worry about the rest.  Enjoy the season as much as possible!!