The Top 5 Christmas Energy Suckers

Christmas brings up lots of stuff so read ahead and see where you get personally stuck – one of these things will relate to you! With plenty of suggestions and call to actions, make your ‘end of year’ as smooth as it can be. That’s true giving to yourself!  

#1 Spending too much money that you just don’t have
It’s wonderful to gift people and show how much you love them. But doing this at the expense of your bank account and then creating big-time financial stress is counter-productive to the joy we can have at Xmas. If you over-give financially, it’s usually a sign that you are compensating for something.

Call To Action: If your budget is a little tight or even if it’s not – try making some gifts and getting creative. Or perhaps, give the present more thought and make it really count. I remember one of the best presents I received was a little tiny note-pad with a horse on it because a friend of mine knows how much I love horses.

Mindset shift - THOUGHTFULNESS RULES OVER MONEY         

#2 Spending Christmas with people that drain you.
I know that Christmas is most often associated with spending time with family and extended family. Why do we feel the need to suddenly fake our feelings and pretend that we are all happy family with potential relatives that drive us crazy? I am not suggested we should bypass Christmas relative shindigs, but think about ways to minimize any obligations and look for ways to find your own joy.

Call To Action: Think about any challenging people or relatives you will face at Christmas. Find ONE thing you have in common or enjoy doing and create a vibrant conversation around that. If it is possible, perhaps even do that common thing together – such as gardening, cooking, discussing a great book, listening to music and so forth. Alternatively – be radical and make plans to escape to an exotic location and put yourself first at Xmas. Nobody can argue with a good old fashioned getaway and break the negative bond that might be playing out at Christmas gatherings.

Mindset shift – FIND NEW WAYS OF CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE OR GET OUT OF TOWN  

#3 Feeling lonely at Christmas Of course, it might be the opposite for you. Perhaps your family all live in another country and you are the dare-devil that left the mother country to pave your own destiny? And hence now you are one of the large numbers of ex-pat orphans floating around? Maybe you have experienced a breakup- recently or your family is split and your Christmas day is feeling pretty glum. Loneliness is a common challenge at Christmas time.

Call To Action: If you are the orphan, put the hint out there to join someone else’s party, a friend or colleagues. If you have a big family and are sorted – start to feel compassionate to those in need and reach out to people you know who need to be invited to your place. My sister is the master at this – she makes all of her friends who are alone feel super welcome and that is indeed a true gift. In addition, if you do feel lonely, start getting involved with a charity group or organization where you are helping others over Christmas. Nothing feels as good as giving to those less fortunate and many spiritual teachers claim this is the true source of happiness.

Mindset shift – FIND A TRIBE TO HANG WITH  

#4 Fitting everything in even though your agenda has tripled! Aha, so you make all these extra crazy plans and then don’t remove anything from the schedule. Huge mistake my friend. If you are going to get super busy at Xmas; parties, concerts, shopping, creative decorations etc, then you need to pull some usual life stuff out of your agenda or you could possibly become the crazy Xmas bunny. Keep your rejuvenating activities like yoga, exercise, and meditation up. But eliminate the longer work hours, additional social commitments and extra school activities so that you feel you can manage easily and with effectiveness.

Call To Action: Something must go, so decide what it is and take control back of your diary. Saying ‘no’ is useful at Christmas.

Mindset shift – SWAP FROM SUPERHERO TO SUPERCHILLED. 

#5 For business owners, sort your budget out! This relates to anyone running their own business or responsible for cash flow. Unless you are in the retail sector, if you run and operate your own business, it is likely that cash flow will slow or completely grind to a halt. I have faced this since I was 27 years old and working for myself and I really only mastered this challenge a few years back. The stress that occurs over the December period can be pretty intense unless you have loads of capital in the bank. Even then, it’s not so awesome watching those dollars reduce…

Call To Action: Basically, unless you ramp up your business over Christmas, you need to budget on having 11 months to the year. Month 12 is at most a half month, so forecast out in advance what expenses you have coming in for November, December, January and relative income. Make sure you are armed with the data and know you are in the black zone no matter what. If you are in the red zone – start resolving the income well before Christmas so you don’t feel that tight knot in your throat or chest as Dec 25 gets closer.

Mindset shift - GET CASHFLOW ORGANIZED WELL IN ADVANCE OF DECEMBER!

What's your Christmas Theme challenge? Write to me and I promise I will respond with some kind of call to action!

-Debbie x