With less than six weeks to go until Christmas, we’re hearing our clients talk about feeling stressed as the festive period approaches.  Whilst we all want everything to be perfect for the big day, it’s important to keep a firm grasp on reality – it’s only one day, it happens every year and there’s absolutely no reason to get festively frazzled.

So, what steps can you take to keep calm and enjoy the run-in to Christmas?

• Visualise your goals.  Creative visualisation involves mentally imagining what you want to happen in your life, or how you want to feel. It can slay stress fast.
• Find some alone time.  Constantly being surrounded by family, children, colleagues etc can build stress levels.  If you can’t find the time for a bath-bomb and candlelit extravaganza in the bath, just try to find 5 minutes to yourself to gather your thoughts and take a few deep breaths before reality calls again.
• Give yourself permission to do absolutely nothing except gaze off into space for a few minutes.  Take in your surroundings – see things you don’t ordinarily see.  Just viewing the outside world for a few minutes might get you out of your own head.
• Stretch!  You don’t need a 90-minute yoga session to reap the benefits of stretching. You can do it when you’ve got to stay put anywhere or when you’re on the go.
• Write down all the things that are causing you stress.  Can you rope anyone else in to help you?  Don’t take everything on yourself – involving the rest of the family will not only help you, it will also make them feel more involved in the festive preparations.
• Stop striving for perfection.  The reality is, perfection doesn’t exist and you will only drive yourself crazy trying to achieve it.
• Try some calming lavender, or seasonal frankincense oil in a burner or diffuser.  Aromatherapy can work wonders when it comes to calming the stressed.
• Make time for a massage.  If you’re running yourself ragged, surely you deserve a little bit of “me” time.
• Take a leaf out of the Danes’ lifestyle and make time for a spot of hygge:   a feeling of cozy contentment and well-being through enjoying the simple things in life.  Think mugs of hot chocolate, squishy sofas, good books, open fires and woolly socks!

We hope that our tips go some way to helping you have a calmer run-up to Christmas.

Have you got any more you’d like to add to the list?