{"id":449,"date":"2017-11-26T03:49:11","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T03:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/?p=449"},"modified":"2017-11-18T19:51:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T19:51:24","slug":"balance-holidays-afl-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/2017\/11\/26\/balance-holidays-afl-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Balance and Holidays AFL podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"snow\"The holidays can be a wonderfully unbalanced time of year. \u00a0According to Pew Research Center 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas<\/a>, with about the same celebrating Thanksgiving. \u00a0Don’t forget New Years too. \u00a0 If you’re not in that group you can still learn from what I’m about to say, as it applies to any gatherings of a seasonal nature.<\/p>\n

The aforementioned holidays all happen in essentially the same month-ish span of time. \u00a0That’s some pretty concentrated celebration, and it comes at a time when a good portion of the country also experiences winter. \u00a0These are pretty intense distractions and influences on how you manage your time, energy and resources.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Automation of Balance<\/h2>\n

\"Automation\"As I said in The Automation of Balance, you are constantly seeking equilibrium. \u00a0This equilibrium takes the form of many many adjustments to how you work, how you play, where you go, what you spend your time on. \u00a0When new influences are introduced to you or existing ones flex and change, you do as well to compensate. \u00a0And as I said in my posts on Balance and Transition, you\u00a0find ways to adjust. \u00a0Sometimes you adjust well, sometimes you don’t. \u00a0And sometimes the influences go away and you continue to adjust to them – adjusting to something that doesn’t exist anymore. \u00a0That’s typically where I come in, helping you to recognize that through the balance sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Holidays – very large temporary annual forces exerted on your balance<\/h2>\n

With regards to the holidays, you probably experience very large temporary changes that you have to deal with. \u00a0The holidays bring a marked increase in socialization, changes to diet and resources. \u00a0You probably never thought about that. \u00a0Perhaps you think about eating and all the rich food and the weight you gain, or fight not to gain during the holidays. \u00a0But there’s much more than that. \u00a0So let’s create an awareness you can use.\u00a0 Remember, it’s always about a tangible take-away.<\/p>\n

What to expect<\/h2>\n

Here are the top things to be aware of when going through the holidays. \u00a0As always, I’m breaking it down between Time, Energy <\/em>and Resources<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Time<\/h3>\n

The holidays really can mess with your schedule. \u00a0You may have to deal with days off – in some cases those days off come at an inopportune time for you. \u00a0If that’s the case you have to deal with a gap in your schedule that messes with your ability to reach other clients or prospects. \u00a0Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving and even Black Friday are probably not the best days to reach a client. \u00a0You may deal with a surplus of time, in which case it may disrupt your flow on what you do with it. \u00a0Seeing family or friends that are out of state or in another city can be a commitment of time in a schedule that is usually chopped up into small slices. \u00a0If you have kids then you may have to attend a number of Christmas plays or ‘Winter Break Festivals.’ \u00a0How much extra time does it take to write the Christmas cards, or decorate the house, or purchase more decorations?<\/p>\n

Maybe you’re one of the kind individuals that participates in the feed the hungry, and that’s an investment of time, but can recharge your emotional gas tank a bit. \u00a0Remember things are a give and take.<\/p>\n

Energy<\/h3>\n

The holidays can be a great draw on your energy. \u00a0You are a rare individual if you solely gain energy from the holidays. \u00a0I’m not saying that it can’t be a wonderful time to recharge with family and friends but the reality is that you are going to probably give a lot too. \u00a0If you host a party the preparation, planning, cooking, inviting are all things that draw from your energy. \u00a0 Wrapping presents, putting up decorations, planning a menu, cooking the Christmas goose (it’s probably some other animal, who has a goose anymore?).<\/p>\n

Energy just doesn’t mean how many boxes can you lift, how long can you stay awake, how long can you be on the treadmill. \u00a0We’re humans, and we have emotional gas too. \u00a0A lot of what you\u00a0do in your\u00a0life is powered and dependant on your emotional<\/em> gas tank.\u00a0 It takes a different form of energy to deal with family at a Christmas party than it does to deal with a room full or peers or prospective clients. \u00a0Or it can. Dealing with varied personalities, some of which that are difficult or antagonistic, with delicious alcohol involved can create an entirely different drain on energy. \u00a0As I mentioned in Time above, you may also have to deal with seeing friends or family in another city or out of state. \u00a0It also takes energy to write out the Christmas cards, or the Christmas Letter (don’t write one of those, please.*).<\/p>\n

The possible weight gain from the rich food will affect your energy level. \u00a0You may be one of the millions that join a gym in January because you made New Years resolutions right after you ate a bunch of really rich food for two months straight. \u00a0Think that is disruptive? \u00a0You bet.<\/p>\n

Resources<\/h3>\n

Clearly the holidays can be a drain on resources. \u00a0You might be the rare person who nets a Christmas bonus. \u00a0Otherwise you’re in the majority of people who expend a lot during the holidays. \u00a0Paying for a big party, buying presents for your family, nieces and nephews, your kids – very real tangible expenditures. \u00a0Buying new Christmas decorations because those lights don’t last forever or you have to have a real tree, or this year something else is ‘in’ you’re spending money. \u00a0Don’t forget the cookie exchanges, the always bringing items for a party, or even a work party. \u00a0Your kids may need new outfits for pictures, or a play at school.<\/p>\n

When it comes to presents, a lot of people wake up with a Financial Hangover in January, and credit card companies capitalize on this fact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now that you’re aware<\/h2>\n

Keep these changes in mind when the holidays roll around. \u00a0Being aware that they can mess with your time, energy and resources can help you plan a bit – you may have never given it much thought other than ‘uh oh I’m going to gain a bunch of weight again for the holidays.’ \u00a0 Being aware that this is normal can help you keep your sanity too.<\/p>\n

* Says the guy that writes a Christmas Letter.<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/podcasts\/holidays.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The holidays can be a wonderfully unbalanced time of year. \u00a0According to Pew Research Center 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas, with about the same celebrating Thanksgiving. \u00a0Don’t forget New Years too. \u00a0 If you’re not in that group you can still learn from what I’m about to say, as it applies to any gatherings of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4,21,20,35,15,22],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-balance-wisdom","tag-balance","tag-christmas","tag-holidays","tag-podcast","tag-stuff-you-can-do","tag-thanksgiving"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyfor.life\/balancecoaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}