It’s that time of year again. When everything seems to speed up and we hurtle hopelessly toward the New Year. When stores play holiday tunes all day long, seasonal parties fill the evenings, and credit cards are being worn out from overuse.

Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, it’s nearly impossible to avoid the barrage of input that marks this time of year. However, you have a choice about how to handle it all. You can choose to put your head down and barrel through it, hoping against hope to survive another month of December. Or, put a few simple practices into place that could make this a welcome month on the calendar.

Take control.
December can so easily be taken over by the excess of things. Too many parties, too many shopping trips, too many long hours at the office to prepare for the holiday downtime. We start out feeling like it’s going to be fine, only to find ourselves exhausted later in the month because we didn’t do anything to prevent the overload.

The best way to avoid end-of-the-season resentment and exhaustion is to start at the beginning of the month and chart the activities that you really want and need to undertake. By taking time to plan your month before it happens, you are making a conscious choice to tame the holiday madness.

Ultimately, you have control over a lot of the things that can make December feel crowded. Sure, we can convince ourselves: “I just have to go to that party because…” or “I have to go to three different malls because…” Are you challenging yourself to evaluate the truth of these statements? What will really happen if you whittle things down a bit? Will you lose your job? Will your family love you less? Will your social circle dwindle?

Yes, some of the decisions might be hard. You might have to withstand a few guilt trips. Through it all, keep reminding yourself that these choices are going to make your holiday season more enjoyable.

More of what you want.
Once you commit to a more reasonably-paced schedule, you’re already well on the way to savoring a more sane holiday season. By cutting out the things that will drain your energy unnecessarily, you inherently make the choice to take pleasure in the things that inspire you: seeing your kids more during their break from school, hand-making holiday gifts for your closest friends, sitting down with a cup of hot cider and a good book.

Once you make those initial choices, the process is not over. You will undoubtedly have on-going opportunities to make your days as stress-free as they can be. At any given moment during the month, you have the power to change course away from the eyeball-rolling experiences of holidays past.

If you’ve chosen to visit extended family, you might have to make the decision to bow out of some activities in order to maintain an even keel. Or, you might have to make that last-minute call to cancel your attendance at a social event because you aren’t seeing enough of your family. Again, not all of these choices will be comfortable, but they do all have the potential to have you sailing into the New Year, energized and fulfilled.

___

The point is, we can chalk this up to “it’s that time of year again” and gird ourselves for the worst, or we can sit down calmly on December 1 and get a lay of the land, pen in-hand, ready to design a do-able season. It will definitely require some discernment and a healthy measure of self-control, but once you take these few simple steps, there’s no doubting that you’ll be able to have your fruitcake and eat it too.