Last Minute Holiday Tips

All right, we're adjusted here. It's the 13 December. I'll let everybody jump in. Whoever is going to be here today just got off a great weekend with the team in Austin. Feel like. I can't believe it's the middle of December already. It feels wild to me. I know. I've been saying that, like, how are we in December? How is it mid December? Craziness. Just craziness. So I will give it one more second and see if anybody jumps in today. But if not, no problem. I can do it with or without an audience.

People super pumped to go live today. I just feel like all of my thoughts are flowing. I don't know about you, but this time of year just, like, gets my head whirling. We just came off of an awesome team retreat in Austin. If you haven't been to Austin, I highly recommend it. It was the most adorable little city and it was just buzzing with energy. And sometimes you don't get an opportunity to. To go to new places unless there's a reason to. Right? You would, like, have to make a conscious effort to do that.

And it was just really cool to be in a city that I have been dying to get on my bucket list. So let's go ahead and start. Today I was just having this overwhelming feeling of sharing holiday survival tips. And today I was just really thinking about it and what that means for people, what that's meant for me, how to survive. You know, I've been out in the Phoenix, Arizona area for almost 13 years, which is so wild. And I know I've shared this in lives before, but I'm single, I'm by myself. It's me and my dog.

And, you know, for so many people, the holidays are a really fun time. And of course, I have memories of the most fun end of the year christmases and new year celebrations and just, like, really enjoying and looking forward to this magical time of year. But the reality is it's not always super magical for people. And I think it's so important for us to talk about and share what we might be feeling and how. What might come up for us. Excuse me. While we are navigating what should be a beautiful, joyous time of year, it can just sometimes be stressful.

That's just the reality of it. Surviving can mean navigating by yourself, and that means financially, when everybody else is gift giving and you want to be your most giving self, but it feels just like you have to keep every dollar in your pocket, even though it might be really difficult for you not to gift give in the way that a lot of people do. Reciprocating people's gifts, reciprocating people's actions. Attending every single holiday party, planning an epic dinner or celebration at your home, or being responsible for event planning around this time of year.

It can come with a lot of stress, anxiety and expenses. Hey, Katie. What's up? So not having time to prepare, feeling like the holidays are just upon us. Does anybody ever feel like that? Like they just happen and all of a sudden you're running out of time to prepare. It's running out of time to prepare for gift giving, setting up your tree or getting your home cleaned or, you know, planning an event. Like I just said, all of that can feel like it just creeps up on you and it feels really stressful when you're racing against the clock.

We all know time is undefeated and that can be a really stressful feeling. So surviving the holidays might just come from feeling like you don't even have time to navigate them, and then they're here today, gone tomorrow. And that's the worst feeling. When a joyous time of year is happening, you just want to celebrate it. It can also just be stressful. Family gatherings, just being around family members who stress you out, and you wouldn't normally choose to hang around them in your everyday life, but the holidays come around and there's Uncle Joe picking you up when you walk through the door and you're a 41 year old adult and you don't want to be picked up by Uncle Joe.

Anybody else relate to that? I just feel like somehow, someway, boundaries go out the door during the holidays and anything goes and people just forget to respect other people's boundaries and their needs and they just. It's a free for all. It's a family free for all. So for me, it's definitely the navigating it alone. I actually have a parent who lives in Arizona part of the year, and it is like pulling teeth to get to see this parent. And, you know, they don't necessarily want to see me both on Christmas Eve and Christmas because it's a lot to plan two days in a row and to make the 20 minutes trek.

And the feeling that I feel spending Christmas Eve alone is really. It's lonely and it's stressful. And there are a lot of people out there that are going through that same struggle. And so I would encourage you, if you do know somebody who is alone and who is navigating the holidays by themselves and maybe not surrounded by a huge family with kiddos and the magic of Christmas, reaching out to them. One of the things that is hard for me as a single adult is asking for company. And I sort of get into my little bubble and I retreat into my introverted self.

But I suppose that if I asked more for what I needed, I might see a better result from the people that I loved. Luckily, I do spend Christmas Eve with a really good family friend of mine. So finding friends that become like family is another great way to. To survive the stress of feeling really alone. Another thing that happens around this time of year is we use a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms to get through the stress and anxiety. I know that for myself, I try not to have alcohol, and there are times when I use it as a coping mechanism, and I know that there are other people out there who do that, especially around the stressful time of the year.

So trying to choose consciously a healthier coping mechanism than your typical coping mechanism, especially in a heightened level of stress. So for me, it could be replacing alcohol with exercise and a dedicated workout, taking a walk, going for a run, doing something that is not the normal unhealthy coping mechanism. Replacing stressful family banter, because it's really easy to get into that holiday political conversation, or, where's your boyfriend? Or are you seeing anyone? Those types of conversations stress me out.

What's up? Luke and Alec, they stress me out and they make me nervous, and I don't want to talk about my personal life. And if there was a conversation that I don't want to have in a group of family members who are all in relationships, it's the conversation about my love life and my relationship life. So if you are trying to protect yourself from conversations that you don't want to have with family members, replace those conversations. Flip the script, you know, replace it with a conversation back to them saying, you know what?

I want to hear more about you. I haven't seen you in a really long time. Or setting a boundary and saying, you know, one conversation I don't want to have at Christmas when I'm trying to enjoy my family time, is a conversation about my personal life. So taking that opportunity and flipping the script back to them and saying, this is my boundary. I want to hear about you. Let's talk about what we're grateful for this holiday season, or, you know, who did you get in the Christmas swaps? Whispered in my ear.

So flipping the script and just really trying to. If you don't want to have those conversations, set clear boundaries around them or just walk away. That works all the time for me. You know, this is the time of year too, where it's really easy to forget to prioritize yourself because it is the season of giving. And I think if there's one great, great gift that you can give, it's to yourself. And that is prioritizing yourself and taking care of the things that you need. I just said setting boundaries.

That is my number one greatest gift that I have given myself this year. It's the gift that keeps on giving. So if you can prioritize yourself and not get caught up in the overwhelm that is the holidays, I do think that it can lead to great results for you. There is this struggle around gift giving too. I think for me, I want to spend every last dollar that I have on other people. It's just the nature of who I am. In the past, I have found that sponsoring a family and helping them pay their rent and get their groceries, especially during COVID I crowdfunded to support families and sponsor them as a Christmas gift for the past couple of years.

This is an incredible way to feel like you are doing your part and that you're gift giving and that you're participating in the magic of this time of year by just getting the support of other people and giving back in the best way that you can. Surviving the holidays for so many people means maybe they are struggling in their health and or has a family member that's struggling in their health. It could mean actual survival. It could mean financially surviving. It could mean mentally surviving. I just know that for so many people, this time of year doesn't feel as joyous as they want it to feel.

Finding the magic and finding ways to still feel that gratitude and to still participate in the magic by taking care of yourself and prioritizing and finding ways to give back. Whether it's donating your time at a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, or a place where you can participate in the magic is just as fulfilling sometimes as having a tree overflowing with gifts underneath it. So I encourage you at this time of year to think about what you need. Take what you need. Don't necessarily feel so caught up in the hustle and bustle of racing to the mall to put gifts under the tree.

Figure out what's really meaningful for you, where you need to fill your buckets, how you can participate without feeling the stress and anxiety and replacing all of those unhealthy habits with exercise and mindfulness and healthier coping mechanisms that will really put things in perspective for you. And not allow you to feel caught up in an otherwise stressful time of year. So if you guys need any other tips for setting boundaries or finding the joy in life or how to get by on a dime or anything, how to have the confidence when you walk in the room to face some family members that might otherwise stress you out, I am always here for you.

You can reach out to me at any point in time. And anybody at the coaching. At the Cadre coaching team, on the Cadre coaching team, or just here at the Cadre family, we're all here for you. We really want this to be an interactive space and for you to come here and take what you need, but also engage with us. So feel free to reach out to us at any time, especially if you're feeling incredibly overwhelmed this holiday season. I totally see you. I feel for you. I'm right there with you in a lot of ways, and we can help you through any of it.

So thank you so much for being here today, you guys. I just love coming on these live streams. I know we've got some great live streams coming down the pipeline this week. If you aren't following us on Instagram ecadre, get on it. We always post our live schedules on Monday so you know who's gonna be up to share all of their tips and tricks and feelings and thoughts with you. And we really go live so we can give you guys that of the moment, what's on our heart information, and just share with you and engage with you.

And this part of what we do is just so crucial and important to building our community here at Cadre. We just love you so much and we're so glad you're here and the happiest of holidays to you, and I'll be seeing you on my next live. Thanks, you guys, and happy holidays. You like my tree?