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Episode 2403:
Rosalyn Palmer shares a heartfelt and practical approach to navigating the holiday season with less stress and more joy. By focusing on mindfulness, prioritization, and delegation, her "OXYGEN" method helps you create a balanced and meaningful Christmas. It's an invitation to embrace togetherness over perfection and enjoy a truly cozy holiday.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://rosalynpalmer.com/make-christmas-cosy-not-crazy/
Quotes to ponder:
"It’s more important for us to be together than for everything to be perfect."
"Stop what you are doing, sit down somewhere safe, close your eyes, and start to draw a box with your breath."
"Overwhelm creeps up, but with prioritization and presence, you can take back control and joy."
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[00:00:00] Now before we start, you might want to check out our other podcasts covering topics like personal development and minimalism, money, health, relationships, and more. So to optimize your life in other areas, just search for Optimal Living Daily in your podcast app. Now on to the show.
[00:00:17] This is Optimal Relationships Daily. Make Christmas Cosy, Not Crazy by Rosalyn Palmer of rosalynpalmer.com
[00:00:27] I love Christmas, yet I have memories of trying to juggle work, kids, family, extended family, and more, and ending up in tears, drinking Santa's sherry while wrapping the kids' presents in the early hours of Christmas Day, worrying about the turkey.
[00:00:43] Probably the most insidious issue facing everyone today is overwhelm. Not the good overwhelm, like being overwhelmed by joy when you get the keys to your new home or see your baby born. No, the bad kind.
[00:00:56] It can creep up on you, and you start to procrastinate as a defense mechanism against it. Instead of doing that urgent piece of work, you rearrange your sock drawer by color.
[00:01:06] Or perhaps you push on through and create yet another to-do list so as not to let anyone down. It haunts you. Soon enough, you're running on empty. Stress starts to take hold, which affects you mentally, physically, and emotionally.
[00:01:19] So, how do you take back your control and joy, especially at this time of year?
[00:01:25] Think about the safety announcement on a flight that says,
[00:01:28] In the case of decompression, the oxygen masks will drop and parents must put theirs on first.
[00:01:34] The reason they have to make this announcement every time we fly is that this goes contrary to our human instincts.
[00:01:41] A parent will always seek to protect their child first.
[00:01:45] But in this case, they may end up unconscious, and that won't help the kids at all.
[00:01:50] Yet, that is what we do in life.
[00:01:52] We aim to make everything perfect, and in the process, we get frazzled and exhausted.
[00:01:56] So, here is an oxygen guide to get you out of overwhelm this festive season.
[00:02:02] It spells out the first letters of oxygen to make it easy to remember.
[00:02:07] O. On a single piece of paper, write down everything you need to do and every little task that is bugging you and is probably keeping you awake at night.
[00:02:16] X. X marks the ones you really can't do anything about.
[00:02:20] You may be worried about them, but you can't actually do anything at this time to alter them.
[00:02:26] Put a line through them.
[00:02:27] Why?
[00:02:28] You must do some things, but not all at once.
[00:02:32] Prioritization is key.
[00:02:33] So, take another piece of paper and draw a box inside it.
[00:02:37] Then, draw a cross across the middle of this inner box to create four boxes.
[00:02:42] Write not important in the bottom left side of the axis, and important top left hand side.
[00:02:49] At the top of the first box, write urgent, and top right, put not urgent.
[00:02:54] Now, put the things you really must do in these boxes and then deal with them in order of being important slash urgent first down to not important slash not urgent.
[00:03:04] In fact, do you need to do these tasks at all?
[00:03:07] Keep the things that are always important to you, such as walking the dog or having cuddles with your kids, in the important box.
[00:03:15] G. Get time-specific now.
[00:03:18] Put times next to the items in the boxes.
[00:03:20] Times such as today, tomorrow, any day in the countdown to your Christmas.
[00:03:25] Scope out time for them in your diary.
[00:03:28] E. Ensure you are motivated to do them by finding your why.
[00:03:33] Change items from the likes of make-up guest room or buy crackers to something like
[00:03:38] make a welcoming space for my lovely family or friends,
[00:03:41] and inject some silly fun and games into our Christmas time together.
[00:03:45] You get the idea.
[00:03:47] N. Now take your first step.
[00:03:50] Do something this minute to take back your life and your control by oxygenating your body.
[00:03:55] Stop what you're doing.
[00:03:57] Sit down somewhere safe.
[00:03:58] Close your eyes and start to draw a box with your breath.
[00:04:01] Breathe in four slow counts and draw an imaginary line in your head.
[00:04:06] Hold it for four breaths and draw the next side of your inner visualized box.
[00:04:11] Next, breathe out for four counts and draw the third side,
[00:04:15] then hold it for four counts and complete the square.
[00:04:18] Do this about ten times and then open your eyes.
[00:04:22] Anytime you feel that sense of overwhelm creeping back,
[00:04:25] say to yourself or out loud,
[00:04:27] I've got this.
[00:04:29] And actually, it is more important for us to be together than everything to be perfect.
[00:04:34] Involve others.
[00:04:35] You are running a life, not a hotel.
[00:04:37] So if your guests even have to make their own beds,
[00:04:40] rather than you be so tearful that the day goes downhill,
[00:04:43] then so be it.
[00:04:45] Make it the best, most balanced Christmas yet.
[00:04:47] And be Christmas cozy, not crazy this year.
[00:04:55] You just listened to the post titled,
[00:04:57] Make Christmas Cozy, Not Crazy,
[00:05:00] by Rosalind Palmer of rosalindpalmer.com.
[00:05:04] Thanks so much to Rosalind for providing a very mindful and strategic approach to Christmas.
[00:05:09] Interesting how during times of such overwhelm,
[00:05:12] we tend to veer away from taking steps like these.
[00:05:15] Don't let this be you.
[00:05:16] If you're feeling that way, it is likely because you're worried about seeing all of these things
[00:05:20] written down.
[00:05:21] Looking at the laundry list can be very exhausting.
[00:05:24] And God forbid you remember to write something down that you'd forgotten about up until then.
[00:05:29] As Rosalind said,
[00:05:30] The point of this activity is to prioritize.
[00:05:33] Having everything you need to do in front of you is not meant to
[00:05:36] stay as one big intimidating chunk,
[00:05:39] but instead to be delegated and to be moved and planned for.
[00:05:43] This means that completing the tasks will be done slowly, steadily, and thoughtfully.
[00:05:48] A little bit each day, chipping away.
[00:05:50] This process of breaking down is ideal any time our responsibilities are piling up.
[00:05:55] If we first lean into the discomfort of accepting and listing all of them,
[00:05:59] we are then able to figure out a way to perform them with ease,
[00:06:02] as Rosalind has laid out today.
[00:06:04] That is going to do it for today though, everybody.
[00:06:07] Thanks so much for being here and making another episode possible.
[00:06:10] As always, I will be back with you tomorrow for the Wednesday show.
[00:06:13] So I hope you'll join me then, where your optimal life awaits.