Are you stuck in “I don’t want to think about that now!” revolving door this holiday season? This is why “I can do that later” turns into the stress and panic of “what am I going to do now, I only have a couple of days!” Think about the fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper. We may have to blend two fables together to put a little FlyLady spin on it.
The Grasshopper played all summer as he made fun of the Ant working so hard to store up food for the winter. In the fable, the Ant turned the Grasshopper away and was quite snippy about it. Well, you would be fussy, too, if you had worked that hard and never took a break. We have to find balance and consistency in our lives to release the stress we put on ourselves from not wanting to think about something now.
We wait ’til the last minute to do most everything in our lives and in our homes. You run out of toilet paper and have to drop everything to go get some. Just look at the time, energy, gas and money this has cost you! You just don’t run into the grocery or any other store and come out with one item. Those stores are set up to entice you into buying other things that are not on your list.
Have you been whining, or shall I say, rebelling against our Holiday Cruising Missions and our Holiday Control Journal? You are determined to not think about the holidays now. We call our missions Holiday Missions not to be politically correct with all religions but to recognize that there are several holidays coming up in the next 10 weeks. There is Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Years Day.
Every one of these celebrations costs money. If you don’t plan for them, then you will more than likely overspend or max out your credit cards. This puts a burden on you next year. When we wait ’til the last possible minute to think about something the stress of actually doing weighs us down. That stress makes us sick!
Oh, you think you work better under stress, but that is because you have never tried it any other way! When we have a plan and we implement that plan in babysteps; the holidays are much more enjoyable for everyone! This includes you! This year let’s put the Holiday Banshee in the attic and throw away the key.
You can do this by joining us for our Holiday Cruise! We are pretending to go on a cruise that leaves port on Dec. 1. We will not return home until the 21st of December. In order to enjoy this cruise, we have to get all our holiday preparations done early! We have six weeks to do this. Once they are done we really don’t have to think about it again.
So let’s take the fable of the Ant & Grasshopper along with the Tortoise & Hare to make this holiday season peaceful. Slow and steady babysteps will get us there. We don’t have to push ourselves too hard and only think about the holidays and nothing else. We can enjoy the process and have a little fun along the way. Doing one mission a day can keep us on the path to peace!
Are you ready to cruise through the holidays with your Holiday Control Journal as your itinerary? www.flylady.net/images/HCJ2003.pdf
For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out Marla Cilley’s website and join her free mentoring group at www.FlyLady.net, listen to her www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady show, or read her books, Sink Reflections, published by Bantam, and her New York Times bestselling book, Body Clutter, published by Fireside. Copyright 2009 Marla Cilley. Used by permission in this publication.
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