Dec

Christmas Survival Guide (Part 4)

Eileen is a Life Coach and has some valuable ideas to help you survive the shopping and the family.

Coping with Christmas Shopping

Be organised.

Have a definitive list of who you wish to buy for in a notebook you won’t lose before you go.

Do it all in one day if at all poss. It adds to the fun and prevents you spending too much.

Buy only one gift for each person and buy something you truly think they would like rather than having to spend £20 on Johnny because you did on Rosie!

Noting what you buy in your book also prevents buying second presents cos you’ve forgotten the first one.

(My daughter persuaded me to some early Christmas shopping in October which simply meant I hid what I bought and may one day find it again……)

If you have a day’s holiday left book it off with a friend and make a really fun day of it.

If you know which shops you are going to again make a plan so that you can pick them off in a logical order.

I know this all sounds very military but it saves on both brain and leg work to put a bit of planning in first.

Keep some good quality dark chocolate in your bag to nibble as it has now been proven that it alters metabolism and lowers stress biomarkers.

If you do get pushed, squashed, trodden on or beaten to the last one of this year’s must have toy (apparently anything to do with Star Wars - just proves everything really is cyclical!) take some long deep slow breaths to boost your serotonin levels (also great as you cant swear whilst doing the breathing so it will stop you getting into a fight) and help you feel calm and centred again.

If you really can’t bear it all – best use the Internet. Enjoy!

Coping with the family

One of the reasons spending Christmas with family that we may not see by choice the rest of the year is that stories will be brought up from childhood that we might well prefer to forget.

The retelling pushes us back into our old child role and can feel very crushing to self esteem.

The best way to deal with this is firstly to anticipate it and secondly to choose to respond differently and from our now sorted adult stance.

Recall the event, see the child and acknowledge how he/she has grown.

Pretend that the annoying uncle, brother whatever he or she may be is actually a member of your best friend or partner’s family and view them with the compassion you would if they actually were someone else’s relative.

In other words change the perspective from which you participate and your chances of survival or even enjoying yourself will be magnified!

If all else fails take the dog for a walk or if there is no dog say you want to go and have a look at your old school that did you so proud all those years ago!

No need to stop and listen to the story that rekindles, just be back in time for lunch

And don’t forget to do the washing up – another great way to make space for yourself and get a few brownie points with mum!

Eileen is a qualified Life Coach and can be contacted via eileen.choices@googlemail.com

For tips on how to survive the physical aspects of Christmas, subscribe to my RSS feed.