Feeling Stressed Out? Here’s How to Relax During the Holidays

Does the thought of learning how to relax this holiday season seem like a daunting task?

Are you looking for tips to help you reduce tiredness, overwork, and stress?

In this article, you’ll find guidance on how to relax during the holidays in your business.

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Why should you learn how to relax during the holidays?

We all know the holiday season brings about it’s own set of unique challenges and frustrations. But why should you learn how to relax during the holidays in the first place?

As a productivity coach who works with entrepreneurs, small business owners, and professionals, I can think of three key reasons why this is a good idea.

For starters, learning how to relax during the holidays will help you better navigate those social responsibilities of parties, concerts, and events. And that’s not to mention shopping, meal preparation, and decorations as well!

When you’re relaxed, you’ll be better equipped to address any unexpected or unaddressed issues and problems that may occur over the course of your preparations.

Another reason to learn how to relax is that you’ll be more present to enjoy holiday festivities. Sharing memorable moments with employees, staff, clients, friends, and family is a lot more fun when you’re rested, alert, and awake!

A third reason is that learning how to relax now will help you set a strong foundation for your business in the new year.

Once the holidays are over, it’s back to the daily grind. You can use your newfound relaxation skills to help you better manage your time and energy on weekdays, weekends, holidays, and vacations.

When should you start your relaxation planning?

The sooner you can start planning your holiday routines, the better. This ensures you’ll have ample time to create, rework, and finalize holiday arrangements for your business and personal life.

A good rule of thumb is start thinking about holiday arrangements around mid to late October. You’ll have several weeks worth of planning available to you should you need it.

Take a moment right now to schedule an hour or two into your calendar so you can start making your preparations. That way, you won’t need to search for time later in your schedule.

And believe or not, your planning process can be relaxing in and of itself. Make it an enjoyable event. Prepare your favorite hot or cold beverage and gather your favorite planning supplies. Tell others you’re not to be disturbed and silence your devices.

For your business, consider making arrangements to address holiday hours, staff coverage, client care, and the delivery of products and services.

And if you want to jumpstart planning for your personal life, start thinking about preparations for holiday gifts, meals, and events. Be sure to consider how each of these items need to be scheduled given your upcoming business and work schedule.

What are the benefits of learning how to relax?

Learning how to relax has many benefits for both you and your business.

Some benefits of learning how to relax include:

• Positive outlook in your business and personal life
• Boost mental focus, clarity, and attention in your daily work
• Improved communication with others in your business
• Creative or innovative solutions for timely challenges
• Better overall productivity throughout the week

What are some ways to learn how to relax right now?

While you can’t control external circumstances, but you can control how you react to them. You might be many weeks away from the holidays, yet you want to a bit of an escape right now. What should you do?

Ideally, you should always have a few relaxation techniques up your sleeve to help you get through the ins and outs of everyday life in your business.

This helps you navigate stressful situations with clients, frustrating events with vendors, and last-minute interactions with customers.

What are some ways you can relax right now? Try any of the following relaxing activities:

• Exercising (walking, tai chi, yoga, stretching)
• Meditating quietly
• Deep breathing exercises
• Visualizing a relaxing scene
• Stretching your body
• Writing in a journal
• Reading a book
• Listening to music
• Going for a walk
• Coloring in coloring book
• Taking a bath or shower

The above activities like all helpful ways to unwind after a long day at work or during a break. Now is a good time as ever to start learning relaxation skills!

How to relax during the holidays

If you find it challenging to relax during the week, then you’ll certainly want to prepare for the busy holiday season.

Believe it or not, part of your job as an entrepreneur is to take some time off from your work. You need both physical and mental space to recuperate and reenergize yourself for your daily routine.

Having a step-by-step guide in your back pocket makes it easier to plan ahead for what’s to come.

Here are five productivity pointers to help you prepare and unwind during the holiday season.

Plan your business break

It can be difficult to relax if you’re spending the bulk of your vacation time thinking about your business. Do yourself a favor and build a plan for yourself.

Begin by identifying your time off or days off. Next, build around these dates. Physically block off time in your calendar before and after your departure so you can wrap up business affairs.

If you work with a team, identify a single contact person to handle or delegate items in your absence. You should also hold a team meeting or two to discuss how business should be handled while you’re away.

If you work solo, consider changing voicemail and email messages to alert your absence. Jot down pending or outstanding issues to be addressed upon your return.

Likewise, make a plan to alert clients or customers to the start and end dates of your absence. Depending on your business, you may consider leaving an emergency contact name and number as well.

Create a relaxation schedule

You’re used to planning a busy day for yourself and getting things done. But now you need to shift your focus and make sure you’re having some relaxing days for yourself.

This can take some thought, especially if you haven’t taken time off in several weeks or months. The key here is to avoid simply booking your relaxation time solid with activities for activities’ sake. You want to relax, after all!

So, where should you begin? Start by identifying one activity that would be utterly relaxing for you to do. You can do this for each day of your break or as you so choose.

Next, think about how you can make the most of this activity and truly savor it. Does that mean bringing your full self to the activity? Enjoying conversations with family and friends? Eliminating unnecessary distractions?

When I work with clients, I remind them they don’t need a fully-booked relaxation calendar in order to relax. So if you feel the pull to book out your calendar, remember: this is supposed to be your time off to rest and recuperate. Sometimes in life, less is more.

Look to the near future

Unfortunately, there’s a common tendency to squeeze unnecessary things in at the end of the year. Yes, the calendar year is ending. And yes, you should most certainly take care of urgent and important items in your business.

But you don’t have to work yourself into a giant ball of stress over the next several weeks. Ditch the “must get everything done by the end of the year,” mindset. You’ve got the whole next year to work on your business.

Give yourself time to relax and unwind and you’ll have more energy to do the things you want to do in the future.

If a non-urgent project, assignment, or request comes up in your business, take notice. Stop what you’re doing and ask yourself if this item is truly urgent and important. Then, make a solid decision to address it next year.

Capture those ideas in a safe place

You know those entrepreneur ideas that pop up in your mind? While we can’t switch off the flow of ideas, we can appropriately capture them for later use.

One way to do this is to create a list of future projects or tasks that can wait until the new year. The method used is irrelevant. What’s most important is that you record information, right here, right now.

Use a work notebook, app, text file, or voice recorder to capture any ideas. To ensure you address those ideas after your holiday break, pencil in some time in your calendar to review items upon your return.

Create your list now and store it in a safe place. Then, review your list once the new year rolls around. You’ll be able to pick up where you left off.

Trade your work for opposite activities

This approach is fun and novel because it forces you to get outside of your usual work routine. The idea is this: simply do the opposite of what you would normally do in the course of your daily work.

Of course, this will all depend on your business, industry, and line of work. You will need to carefully think about how you swap out your current activity for one that’s refreshing, novel, and different.

Don’t know where to start? Start thinking of these business and work activity opposites:

• Indoor work versus outdoor work
• Sitting work versus standing work
• Desk work versus active work
• Computer work versus non-computer work
• Solo work versus working with other people

So, if you spend your days on the computer, spend more time outdoors or in some other off-line activity like reading, cooking, or drawing.

If you spend time by yourself in your business, make a point to spend more time with friends and family having conversations, traveling, playing games, or eating meals together.

Are you constantly moving your body, every single day in your business? Take some time to rest up on your couch or bed and watch your favorite movies or TV shows.

If you eat meals on the run or at a desk? Take long leisurely breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in your dining room or in your favorite restaurants.

See how easy that is? Get creative when it comes to looking for the opposite of your work. You may find your next best method of relaxation is ready and waiting for you!

FAQ: How to relax during the holidays

Conclusion

If you want to learn how to relax, then you need to hone your planning skills. When you take the time to think about your business during the holiday season, you can make necessary arrangements so you have time to step away from your work.

Don’t forget, relaxation is part of the productivity process. Spending time with friends, family, and loved ones, giving yourself time and space to unwind and decompress will allow you to work more efficiently and effectively after the holiday season.

A version of this article originally appeared on Inc.com.

In case we haven’t yet met virtually, it’s nice to meet you! Hi, I’m Rashelle Isip, The Order Expert®, productivity coach for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and executives.

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Rashelle Isip Productivity Coach and Founder of The Order Expert®

Rashelle Isip is a productivity coach and founder of The Order Expert®. She is a contributing columnist for Inc.com and author of four books. With over 16 years of experience in the productivity industry, Rashelle helps people work comfortably, sustainably, and joyously for the long term.

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