Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
The holiday season is upon us which can throw a wrench in our routines. However, there are things you can put in place to ensure your routines don't totally fall apart. In this episode of the routine and things podcast I'm sharing how to prepare your routines for the holiday season. Let's get into it.
Ashley Brown 0:32
Reduce daily stress and keep overwhelm at bay. Using the routine and things planner are one of a kind planner merges routines and planning to help you get organized and stay organized. You'll build and incorporate routines into your life little by little. And using the signature routine block planning method you'll organize your weekly tasks into four routine categories to maintain a strong foundation for your home and your life. The things that typically get lost in the day to day shuffle will now be brought to the forefront every single week, which will help you lessen stress and avoid becoming overwhelmed. To get your very own routine and things planner. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com or click the link in the show notes.
Ashley Brown 1:17
Hey, welcome back for another episode of the routine and things podcast. I'm your girl Ashley. And today we are getting into the holiday vibes. Oh my gosh, it is the end of October is almost November and I'm like where has time gone? What do you mean it's about to be Thanksgiving, like what's going on here? And as you know when the holidays roll around, it's such a beautiful time like I'm such a holiday girl. I love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas. I did love the holiday vibe doesn't matter what holiday it is honestly, but I love the end of the year holidays. And with that also routines get a little bit different during the holidays and I'm here to share with you that's totally normal. What I want you to know if you leave with nothing else today is that is normal for your routines to shift some when it comes to the holidays is normal that may be you may fall out of routine somewhat during the holidays. It's okay if it's not rigid and tight during the holidays because that's what the vibe is all about. Let's let's enjoy family time. Let's go to certain events that fill us with joy. Let's hang out with family and travel and this that and the third. So if you take away nothing else today, routines during the holidays, shifting a little is totally normal.
Ashley Brown 2:40
Okay, so I wanted to really chat today about how you can prepare your routines for the holiday season. Because some of you may be like girl, I have these younger kids and I can see if I had older kids shifting them a little bit might be okay. But these younger kids, I need for them to stay on schedule, right? maybe that's the case maybe for you, you just do better with structure in general and you feel more at ease with more structure. And so you want to be able to prepare your routines for the holidays. No matter why you're listening to this episode, I'm gonna share some perspectives with you today some suggestions when it comes to your routines that will help you during the holiday season. So let's get into that. So the first thing I want to share with you when it comes to preparing for the holiday season or preparing your routines for the holiday season is you first have to prepare yourself. Before you can prepare your routines. You got to prepare yourself, you have to get that mindset in check. You have to understand what's about to come. You have to be willing to say you know what the holidays are around the corner things may not look like how I want them to look what things may not look like how they look today, I'm gonna be okay though.
Ashley Brown 3:57
We're going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. I want you to really focus on that knowing that things aren't going to look perfectly during the holidays, things aren't gonna go smooth every single day during the holiday. You have to be able to level your expectations during the holiday season especially when it comes to routines. Level your expectation because as much as we want to think that we're going to be able to stick to a certain bedtime some days it may not happen some days, it might be truly understandable that it didn't happen. And so you want to be able to level your expectations and get your mind under control before the holiday season comes about because I don't want you stressing during the holiday season because you start to see your routine shifting somewhat. They don't totally have to fall apart. Let me tell you that right now. They don't but maybe they need to shift some and that's okay, but prepare yourself for that shift mentally knowing that I'm going to be okay, the family is going to be fine, I can always reincorporate this routine after the holidays.
Ashley Brown 5:09
Again, we can get back to a certain time like certain bedtime, we can wake up at a different time, whatever that may be, you can readjust your routines after the holiday season, you can reincorporate them back into your life. But I don't want for you going into the holiday season thinking that things are going to just stay picture perfect and intact the whole entire time, it's going to be those nights where you want to go out with your partner or with a friend, and you may get thrown off, which means maybe the family gets thrown off, it's fine. It's cool. It's the holiday, have fun, enjoy yourself. So that's first and foremost, prepare yourself and your mindset first, the second thing you can do to prepare your routines for the holidays, is to think about adjusting the routine beforehand. So before even the holidays come in, you can start to adjust the routine. So maybe, especially with like the time being pushed back. So you know the time is going to be pushed back, especially with that. The second thing that you can think about when it comes to preparing your routines for the holiday season is to think about adjusting the routine ahead of time.
Ashley Brown 6:14
So maybe during the holiday time, you know, that you all typically go to bed a little bit later, maybe you can start that now maybe you can be like okay, let me start it now. So they adjust to it before the holiday come and now I'm pissed off, right? Maybe you can start to push back the bedtime a little bit. Maybe if that works for you and your family, right? Maybe maybe when it comes to your routines, maybe certain routines, you're like I'm okay, if they go by the wayside a little bit like it doesn't bother me, you can adjust the time for your routine or even the things that you do within your routines. So if you know during the holiday season, you're going to be doing a good amount of traveling, which we know traveling throws off our routine. So if you know you're going to be doing more traveling during the holiday season, then maybe think about okay, well I typically do this morning routine when I'm home. But since we're going to be traveling a lot, I'm going to readjust my morning routine to be this you can adjust your routines to fit what you know your lifestyle is going to look like during the holidays. If you pretty much have the same flow to your life, even in the holidays like you don't travel, your life kind of looks the same.
Ashley Brown 7:27
You don't need to address your routine. But if you know that your lifestyle even for a short time is going to change. Start thinking about which routines need to be adjusted. Maybe it's you do laundry on Tuesdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays you do laundry, but you know you're going to be traveling more during the holidays. Maybe you're like you know what, I can't do it on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So let me let me do them on Thursdays and Friday. Because we might be traveling on the Tuesday, right? Or maybe you do the laundry on the weekend. And that's your travel days, then maybe you're like okay, I'm gonna start doing the laundry on Wednesday, Thursday, like two weeks before we started traveling so that I have that in rotation before we start. So those are things to think about how can you adjust your routines, either the time or the things in your routines, the actions you're doing to fit how your life is going to look during the holidays is just adjustments, you can always go back to what you were doing. Sometimes you find that which you change the routine to actually works better, honestly. So you can keep it it's up to you.
Ashley Brown 8:30
But I want for you to think about that as you prepare your routines for the holidays. Last but not least, I want for you to determine your non negotiables when it comes to your routines because some things may be a non negotiable depending on what season of life you're in what you know, you can handle and maintain. You may have non negotiables that's like Nope, this is not changing with the routine. So for example, you may meal plan you're like we're I'm meal planning all of holiday season, every week I'm doing a meal plan. I don't care if I have to factor in Thanksgiving Dinner is on the meal plan that could be a non negotiable for you. Maybe a non negotiable for you is getting to bed at a certain time. That could legitimately be a non negotiable for you. Because you know without sleep, you act up a little bit, you know, like it's like why I get a little bit more moody or when I don't get sleep. So that's a non negotiable. We're going to bed no later than 11 You ain't gonna be no 12 ain't gonna be no one. I need to be asleep by 11pm Every single night. So maybe that routine you keep going that's a non negotiable for you.
Ashley Brown 9:29
Maybe a non negotiable for you. In your routine is your nutrition. You're like you know what I know the holidays coming in and out. But my nutrition what I put in my body is a non negotiable potluck. Let me try to find the healthiest thing at the potluck. Let me try to let me go ahead and prep my family right now. I'm not eating a whole bunch of mac and cheese. We're not doing it. So think about what is a non negotiable, just non negotiables for you when it comes to your routines. Do you want to keep your exercise going? That's it. non negotiable, yeah, I don't have to wake up at 6am Every morning but you know what I need my body to be moved on a consistent basis that's not going to change. So think about what your non negotiables are when it comes to your routines during the holiday season. And that's helpful for you. Okay, so those are the three things I want you to think about when it comes to the holiday season your routines is one, prepare yourself in your mind for the shift.
Ashley Brown 10:28
That's first and foremost. Secondly, think about adjusting the routine, the timing of it, maybe the actions you do within it to fit your lifestyle during the holiday season. Lastly, determine your routine non negotiables what are the things that you are going to stay consistent with which routines need to stay intact in order for you to get through the holiday season without pulling your hair out? Or I was about to say or cursing somebody out don't do that. Okay let's be nice and kind this holiday season Okay, we're gonna stress levels are going to be down we're not going to get that stress during this holiday season. It's going to be a beautiful holiday season. Okay, start preparing yourself for what you buying your kids now what you buying your family members now start to do it little by little at least start planning it out, writing it down. That's how you can alleviate some stress because I know it's a huge stressor for many of us during the holidays what we buying for people start thinking about it now November is coming up really soon.
Ashley Brown 11:29
We got this okay. Your routines can survive during the holiday season, they just might need to be shifted some take into account these tips to help you hopefully this was helpful if it was take a screenshot of this episode posting your stories on Instagram tag me @routineandthings I would love to know you're listening. And if you could do me a favor today and rate and review the show five stars and write a really thoughtful review. I would love to hear what you love about the podcast what's been helping you that means the world to me. It also helps others find the podcast too if they're looking for this information. Until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing, stay happy girl and I'll talk to you soon.
Ashley Brown 12:13 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social I would love to know you're listening and for tools to help you start maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com Here's to staying happy