Topic: Ways to top up your battery during the holiday season

- Introduction to the holiday season and its impact on recharge levels

- Changes in weather and their effects

- Increased social activities and events

- Importance of maintaining daily routines

- Avoid unnecessary changes to routines

- Incorporate important self-care activities like meditation and exercise

- Maximizing exposure to sunlight

- Spending time outdoors

- Using light therapy devices in the absence of sunlight (happy lights)

- Practicing generosity towards oneself

- Avoiding burnout by treating oneself

- Balancing giving to others with self-care

- Managing expectations

- Adjusting perspectives and avoiding disappointments

- Communicating expectations with loved ones and colleagues

- Being honest about feeling overwhelmed

- Taking responsibility for communicating needs

- Discovering and addressing unrecognized expectations

- Letting go of perfectionism

- Accepting that things may not go as planned

- Reducing self-imposed stress by embracing imperfections

- Scheduling downtime for recharging

- Setting aside specific times for rest and self-care

- Preparing in advance to ensure uninterrupted recharging

- Conclusion and final thoughts on taking care of oneself during the holiday season

Hello, and welcome to the Traveling Introvert. Today, I want to talk about the holiday season. And along with the holiday season, there is a change of weather depending on where in the world you are. There's some sort of change in the weather, be it more sunlight or less sunlight. And this time of year kind of ring's never ending events, social gatherings, things to do, more people to see you maybe than normal indoors. And this means that your recharge bucket battery kind of needs a little extra help sometimes. And, otherwise, you kind of end up with being exhausted and which leads to problems and will affect your overall happiness during the that time of year. And not only can this sort of ruin the holiday season, but it can make everyday life more difficult.

And this isn't for this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's just something to keep in mind. And there are many things that you can do to help sort of relieve that feeling of exhaustion and keeping your your recharge battery topped up. And 1, and I'm gonna talk about some things. Not everything will suit everybody. Just pick and choose what might work for you. Don't change your daily routine. Just because the holiday season is here, beyond seeing maybe family or friends more more events, there's no reason for you to change your routine too much. If you have to change it a little, be sure to include the things that are important to you in your daily life.

Don't skip out on maybe the daily meditation, the exercise or self care as these are the things that are known to reduce stress and keep your recharge battery kind of topped up. Get as much sunlight as you can. Go outside or maybe buy, one of those lights. Many people sort of experience SAD SAD or seasonal depression during this time of year due to reduced sunlight, and this can produce sort of more stress and more anxiety and lower your just general feeling of happiness battery. An sunshine with a happy light is a great way to kind of take a break when you're feeling stressed. Go outside, take a short walk, soak up the sun, or plug in that light every day if there is no sunshine. Be generous, and I don't mean to others. Holidays are always about generously giving to others, and that is what can lead to burnout, and that is what can lead to your social battery feeling so drained.

Now is really good time to be generous, yes, to others, but also to yourself. If you're feeling overwhelmed, make sure that you you put in your calendar days or or times to pamper or treat yourself or treat someone that you care about while doing it. Offers offering yourself and your services and and your emotional energy to others is great, but it can lead to burnout. Also, really, really try and set realistic expectations. Change your perspective and expectations over this season. The more you expect something to happen, more chances of disappointment or or overwhelm or anxiety can happen, and this is draining. Expectations or readjust your expectations. Talk with friends and family and coworkers to make sure they understand the expectations and so you can make sure you understand their expectations of you.

That way nothing's a big surprise. And if it feels overwhelming, be honest. Tell them it's your responsibility to let others know your expectations of them and what's causing it to be sort of unhealthy or maybe, you know, you just don't have the time, the energy, the bandwidth, the spoons. And you might even find that there are expectations that you thought were there that weren't really there in the 1st place, and don't strive for perfection. It doesn't exist, so don't strive for it. This will ruin this season for you. Dinnertime, playtime, events probably will not go as planned, and that is okay. The more you learn to accept it, the less likely you will disappoint yourself in the end.

So just think about looking at your calendar now and plugging in some days that you can have downtime or you can have recharge time around the events that may or may not be happening over this time of year. Even if it's a half day or 2 hours, put it in your calendar now so you no. Oh, this event is happening. I'm gonna spend 2 hours afterwards doing whatever it might be. Prep and give give yourself a fighting chance. Thank you for listening. This is Janice at the career introvert helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your