Beat End-of-the-Year Stress With our Five Tips

December is famous for its holidays -  Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukah, Boxing Day, Las Posadas, Bodhi Day and others - but along with holiday festivities, December can be a hectic month at work and at home.

December 31 is the fiscal year end for most US companies and many other organizations.

If your job is involved with year-end activities, December can be a demanding time.

December also brings the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, to the northern hemisphere.

The winter solstice (Thursday, December 21, 2023) is a time for reflection and community – but it can be hard to enjoy those things when you’re stressed about holiday shopping, traffic, weather, work, schedules and the general end-of-the-year frenzy.

December can be a powerful time for regrouping and recharging for the year ahead, even with all the activity the last month of the year brings.

Here are our five favorite tips for making December a time of renewal and energy-gathering to take you into 2024 with your fuel tank full.

Schedule Downtime

December will fly by like all the months that preceded it, but you can schedule me-time and downtime now with the same conviction and purpose you feel when you schedule other appointments.

There’s nothing more important than your well-being, both physical and mental.

There’s no activity more essential in December than taking a break from your to-do list to reflect on 2023 and get the learning and power boost that reflection gives you.

Why not schedule an hour or 90 minutes every week in December, for yourself?

You have obligations on your shoulders.

You can’t help anyone unless you’re at full strength yourself.

Starting now, you can adopt a new habit – weekly downtime/reflection-time sessions with yourself – and carry that empowered self-care energy into 2024 and beyond!

Get Altitude

At Human Workplace we call the process of disconnecting from your phone, to-do list, busy brain and demands on your time Getting Altitude™.

When you Get Altitude, you give yourself permission to put your responsibilities aside for a little while.

Getting Altitude means giving yourself time and space to think about your life and career from a higher vantage point.

Here’s how to Get Altitude:

1.     Choose a time and place where you can be uninterrupted for an hour or more. Schedule it in your calendar. Make sure the place (your bedroom, a quiet coffee shop or another peaceful spot) is available and has the calm energy you need.

2.     Make a cup of tea or another drink you like and bring a journal or notebook and a pen to your Getting Altitude spot. Get comfortable. Getting Altitude is a process that benefits from peace and quiet. That’s a different energy from much of what we do all day.

3.     Now, think about your life at this moment. Here you are, alive and kicking. How is the journey going? Stop and reflect. Celebrate the incredible things you’ve learned, tried and surmounted in 2023. Write about them in your journal if you like. Give yourself credit for the hard work you’ve done this year and the years before it.

4.     Look ahead to 2024, from altitude – way above your to-do list and your obligations on the ground. You get to choose where to go next year. Where would you like your path to lead? Write about that in your journal, too.

Every time you get altitude, your vision for your life will become clearer. Don’t worry about obstacles and impediments right now. Give yourself permission to think as expansively as you want.

5.     Picture yourself a year from now, looking back the distance you traveled in 2024. How will your life be different this time next year? What’s possible for you now that wasn’t possible before? Write about all of it. Feel your power and your growing flame!

Capture 2023

A fantastic December activity is to get out your 2023 calendar and walk through the year, recalling major events and triumphs. You can do this alone, with a partner or with your family and friends.

Walk through your calendar, starting on January 1, 2023 and recall the events and feelings of 2023. Remember in February when Joey made the baseball team? And in April your cousin Miranda had her baby, Luis. Look how big he is now!

Recall and reflect on your journey in 2023, another precious year in your amazing life. This exercise will remind you how much you experience and accomplish even when you feel overwhelmed or not good enough. (You are more than good enough!)

Connect with Your Inner Child

Holidays are powerful reminders of the things kids know that adults can forget.

Kids tap into energy fields adults try to block out (so they can get more stuff done)!

Be a kid this month. Taste a snowflake if it's snowy where you are.

Sit on a lawn chair outside if it’s sunny where you are. December is the perfect time to remember the kid inside you who still influences you every day.

What unserious, fun things can you do this month in celebration of and gratitude to the kid who is still with you, and who started your incredible journey?

Look Back, Look Forward

Here are questions to reflect on as you Get Altitude and recharge your batteries for 2024:

1.     What am I most proud of myself for doing, addressing, naming, surmounting or launching in 2023?

2.     What fear(s) did I step through this year, and how have those steps through fear helped me?

3.     What did I do for the first time in 2023?

4.     What do I know about myself now that I didn’t know before?

5.     Even with problems in the world and headaches in my own life, I have a lot to be grateful for. Who and what am I grateful for as I reflect on the year that’s passing and the year about to start?

6.     How have I gotten stronger this year?

7.     Looking forward to 2024, how will I keep growing my flame?

LIZ RYAN AT PAYSCALE’S COMPFERENCE 2023: Human-Centered Workplaces

Our CEO Liz Ryan recently spoke at Payscale’s Compference 2023 in a Fireside Chat with Payscale Board Member and author Paul Wolfe. Watch that conversation here:

We are grateful to Payscale and the other tremendous organizations who align with and support the Human Workplace mission to reinvent work for people.

Reach us here to learn about becoming a Human Workplace partner!