You made it through the Thanksgiving Holiday! Hopefully you ate lots of food, saw family and caught up on some rest because now it’s holiday season and, as every event planner knows, the end of life as you know it. As a reminder to keep up with your holiday cheer, here are 5 tips for surviving the holiday season.
Take Your Vitamins! If you know you’re not going to get a lot of sleep, then try to stay healthy. Lots of people get sick when they are stressed, especially when it’s cold and you may be running outside “for just a second” without a coat. So make sure you keep your immune system tough!
Keep Hydrated. When I get super busy I forget I have a body that goes with my head. Keeping yourself hydrated is a shockingly easy way to keep yourself functioning and efficient.
Take a LITTLE Bit of You Time. Allow yourself to decompress, even if it’s as simple as meditating in the shower or taking at least 20 minutes for lunch- whatever. Get up and go for a 5 minute walk and think about something other than what’s in front of you. It sounds hard when you’re running all over the place, but it will actually improve your productivity. Stress comes from lots of work and your brain feeling overloaded. Take little steps to keep yourself calm so you can save that energy for the big stuff.
Say No To Some of the Socializing. As event planners, we tend to be “yes” people so it’s hard to turn down an event, a party or just dinner with friends. However, don’t compromise your sanity for one more thing. My best friend and I intentionally celebrate Christmas with each other after the holiday (last year we didn’t get around to it until March with our schedules). It’s because we both know we will be busy and worn out from all of our other holiday obligations. Plus, it gives us something to look forward to after the holidays so when we do hang out we actually have a good time. While you can’t say no to everything, nor does anyone want you to, prioritize. If you’ve had a long day and your friend calls to grab a drink, think about how you will feel tomorrow after that drink rather than how your friend will feel because you’ve turned him or her down. If you’re too busy to take a lunch at work, you may want the extra hour or 2 of sleep.
Have Fun. One of the reasons I love event planning so much is because I often get a lot of amazing clients. They want you to help them have a successful event which usually translates into some kind of fun. You know you know what you’re doing, they know you know what you’re doing so it’s all good! Not to mention your clients feel relaxed when you look relaxed; you’re the expert, so if you’re nervous, worried or upset it’s going to make your clients feel like they should be. Some of the best events I’ve done were ones where I found myself having a lot of fun. It’s also a really great way to (if you can) mingle a little, get to know the people who came, why they came and get a sense of how you did. I try to dress accordingly for various events and if people don’t know you’re the planner right away, they will most likely provide you with valuable feedback. Besides, you never know when a group of male models will pull you in for a dance party because for some reason they think you can move… I’m just sayin’. It’s happened.
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