In South Africa, especially, mid-November through to about the first week of January is crazy time. Our school terms end early in December so there are year-end functions for everything under the sun – school, all the extra-mural activities, plus all the Christmas functions, school concerts, etc.

I’m not in school and even  I had two exams 🙂

On Monday, I asked Dion, my husband, how his November was and he replied, “well, November is one of the most extroverted months, so I never enjoy it much”.

Is that not a fabulous answer?

D is an introvert so all the activities drain him of energy.

I like most of the activities (!) but I despise the heat, and the back and forth driving during the heat of the day causes heat headaches a lot of the time, which is “not pleasant”.

So how do you stay sane during this busy time?

1. Know yourself

Are you an introvert? How much downtime do you need?

Are you an extrovert? How much meaningful connection do you need?

How many plans can you realistically handle during the week or on a weekend?

Figure out which way of saying no works best for you, and then practise using it.

2. Let go of the guilt

I had a big meeting coinciding with one of the kids’ functions (during the work day). I was still debating whether to ask if I could be excused when it was thankfully cancelled.

But… I did some self-talk and told myself the skies wouldn’t cave in if only D was there to attend the kids’ function. After all, if I’d been travelling for business, then flights would have been booked…

If you’re asked to bring a plate of eats to an event, have a few ideas in mind that are easy to do. You don’t have to cook. I took Woolworths trio of pizza to one event (cut into smaller, cocktail slices) and some fish nuggets with a dipping sauce to another. For both, I could turn on the oven, bake them while I got myself ready, and plate them before leaving. Easy. If all else fails, chips and dip will do 🙂

3. Create an environment to support you, not stress you

I seem to scale down more on Christmas every year. I’ll write more next week but last weekend, no-one was really into the whole decorating bit (maybe it was the heat???) so I decided how much time I wanted to devote to it, did what was important to me, and boxed up the rest. Done!

Do you need to contact your friends and ask them for a date to get together in January rather than now? Or pick up the phone and have a chat instead of feeling like you have to get together if things are not working out due to logistics.

For work functions that you “have to” attend, you could go but skip out a bit early so that you’re still there, show your face, network a little, and yet, preserve your time too.

Do you need to go “lighter” on your plans? Instead of hosting a lunch, do Christmas mince pies and tea. Or instead of doing the cooking yourself, buy two chickens at a deli, some bread rolls and just make a salad.

Part of creating a supportive environment is to get enough sleep, eat as well as you can and move your body.

How do you stay sane during this time of year?