This past weekend I woke up on Saturday morning with ‘the fear’! The fear that it was the last weekend before December, the last weekend before all the Christmas chaos starts and the last weekend to get myself organised. It wasn’t the type of fear that made me feel anxious, but more the giant kick up the back side that I needed to get myself sorted.
As well as motivation, that ‘fear’ also fuelled a lot of creativity for things I want to do over the next month with my blog, YouTube channel and just life in general. So, after making a start on getting myself organised, I also realised that the month of December is going to pretty chaotic, with so many plans and things to squeeze in. That’s where this idea of a Christmas present to myself came from. Now I am not talking about a #treatyourself moment of weakness in the Christmas sales (Christmas is expensive enough as it is). However, my present to myself this year will be to fully enjoy the festive period.
To do that I need to be able make the most of it by not getting run down and burnt out from all the things in my diary or my epic do list. It’s so easy to let all these things take over, that it makes it no longer fun. So, I have decided to implement 12 ideas of things I can do to relax and take time out for me. It’s going to be a little bit like the 12 days of Christmas self-care. I can pick and choose when each of the items suit my diary, but also having 12 things to do means I can evenly tick them off during the month. So here are my ideas…
- Have the biggest bubble bath, with fancy products. Raid the bathroom cupboard for a face mask, body scrub and body lotion and have an evening of pampering.
- Go to bed early one evening, switch off my phone and spend the time reading a good book.
- Wrap up warm, get outdoors and enjoy the cold crisp winter air.
- Have an evening in front of the fire doing nothing but drinking tea and eating biscuits whilst watching a Christmas film.
- Spend a morning or afternoon in the kitchen baking something new, just for the fun of it.
- Sit down for an afternoon or evening and think about how I want to spend 2019. Plan some goals, make a bucket list and think about how I can make it all happen.
- Spend an evening cleaning and making the house look nice for Christmas.
- Plan time to go and do something for me – getting a manicure, grabbing a Starbucks or just doing something I enjoy.
- Find a new podcast and take some time out to listen to it.
- Do some yoga (my pregnancy yoga classes will finish soon for the Christmas break, but I would like to keep up the routine at home until classes start again in January).
- Have a lie in or take an afternoon nap when I feel like I need it most.
- Go to the cinema and see a new film – I haven’t been in so long!
Have you thought about giving yourself some time out this Christmas, so you can make the most of the festive period and enjoy every minute of it? I feel like this could be the best present we could give ourselves at any time of the year, but even more so during December.
What things do you do during December to enjoy the festive period? I would love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment below!