Tips for Communicators

Keep Your Holidays Stress-Free

The hustle and bustle of the upcoming holidays can lead to pressure and stress.  To minimize holiday hassles – and build joy into your holidays – consider these tips:

• Resolve to avoid perfectionism in holiday entertaining and gift-giving.
• Avoid excessive financial pressure by building – and sticking to – a realistic budget.
• Save shopping time by surfing the net, or using Internet sites for gift ideas.
• Give yourself a lift by reaching out to someone in need.
• Make end-of-year gifts (within your budget) to favorite charities.
• Use timesaving household and decorating tips, like pre-assembled decorations and artificial trees.
• Exercise.
• Seek out the company and support of others, especially upbeat friends.
• Take special care of your diet.  Stay upbeat and vigorous by avoiding high-fat foods and excessive alcohol.
• Set realistic “mini-goals” for especially packed and stressful days.  You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and well being when you accomplish them.
• Give a gift to yourself – such as some small useful household item, a book you have wanted to read, or a cherished collection of music, for example.
• Don’t be afraid to say “no” to invitations or potential obligations.
• Start planning next summer’s vacation, and transport your imagination to the places you’ll be visiting.
• Make time for yourself.  Schedule blocks of time for favorite hobbies or pastimes.

Keep Fit at Your Desk

When you’re sitting at your desk, buried in your work, stress and fatigue easily set in.  Use these simple time-tested wellness techniques to relax your body, charge your mind, and reinvigorate yourself:

• Gently tense each of your muscle groups, and then relax the muscles.  Begin with your foot muscles and move upward until you reach your face.  Tense and relax, tense, and relax, tense and relax.
• Breathe deeply, from deep in the abdomen.  Slowly inhale and exhale for five minutes, observing each breath.
• Bend your arms and raise them gently above your head, ten to fifteen times.  Raise your legs while sitting in your chair, and gently lower them ten to fifteen times.
• Stand.  With your arms outstretched, sway your torso back and forth.
• Stand and grasp your hands behind your back.  Gently hunch your shoulders and lean forward, with your hands and arms behind you.

• Walk around. 

Finally, if you don’t even have a few minutes for these simple exercises, work while standing up for a brief period of time.  The result may be a renewed – and sustained – burst of energy.