Here’s an invitation to slow down, take your foot off the gas and have a gentle December.

Have you found that you spend the whole of December chasing around between parties, present buying, nativity plays, carol concerts, catch ups with friends and so on and so forth.

Every day blurring into the next in some kind of tinsel-and-mince-pie-induced whirlwind? Then suddenly it gets to the Christmas break and you stop.  Just like that! You go from speeding through your days at 70mph with your foot firmly on the accelerator pedal, to suddenly stopping without giving your body any warning!

As soon as there are no more parties to attend, the turkey is in the dog, the stuffing and the rest of the family are well.. STUFFED  you suddenly find that you feel ill.  And it’s not at the thought of the 13 mince pies you had for breakfast either, nor the thought of the looming January credit card bill.

All of a sudden you catch that bug that you’ve so stealthily avoided, or you have an almighty headache, or you come out in a terrible cold. I believe there’s a reason for this. I think it’s kind of like whiplash (not in a physical sense) Like anything if you do something a lot and then you stop just like that it gives your body an almighty jolt. It doesn’t need to be like this.

The art of slowing down

One way of avoiding this big energy crash is to start find ways to slow down throughout December. By working at a slightly slower pace where possible. By taking a breath, or a time to  pause each day. Seize any tiny opportunity to slow down, add a calmness, a quiet time, a moment of peace. So when you stop you’re not screeching to a halt you’re simply gently gliding gracefully to a stationary position! 

How to slow down this December

This could be to savour your morning tea without checking social media first so that the day starts in a less frantic way. You could take a short walk outside first thing in the morning. Maybe you could enjoy a pot of loose leaf tea when you come home for the day. It might be that you could finish work on time, or switch off your work phone after work.  Or have some lazy mornings or slower starts whenever you can. Or simply take time to listen to your favourite music without doing anything else at the same time!

You could snuggle up in bed half an hour earlier so you can enjoy a night-time tea and read a chapter of your book. Or simply pouring yourself a long, steamy bath to help you unwind after a busy day.  Do whatever works for you. 

Slow down: Take each day a day at a time.

It could be something as simple as thinking ‘do I need to do this TODAY?’

Whilst I’m not for a second suggesting you put EVERYTHING off for tomorrow, it can be useful to do one key thing a day, rather than trying to tackle everything.  Delegating tasks to others can sometimes free up time for you to do something calming (and give them something to do so they’re not whining at you because they’re bored!)

It is ok to get help with things and for things to be done in a slightly different way to how you’d do them ( a lesson I often struggle with, being a bit of a ‘my way or the highway’ type!) You absolutely don’t need to do everything yourself this Christmas.

How are you going to slow down this Christmas?

Please let me know in the comments below.

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Resources

Here is another of my Christmas articles which you might like to read.

https://www.sarahcooper.co.uk/how-to-avoid-burnout-this-december/

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