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The holidays are a great time to enjoy family and friends, but they can be exhausting. If you find yourself needing a break after the holidays, you’ll love these 4 ways to slow down.
The other day, I got so frustrated because I needed to make an important call to my friend only to find out after glancing at my phone it only has 3% power left. I was so busy with all the cooking, decorating and New Year’s Eve preparations that I forgot to plug it in.
Sometimes I think that our mind, body and soul are very much like a battery that needs charging. We need to have a certain amount of energy within us to perform our responsibilities and function effectively. When we choose to ignore that we don’t have much power left to do a certain task, we tend to lose our focus, get easily distracted and become inefficient.
That being said, I came up with these 4 good reasons why you should take time to slow down and reconnect with yourself.
Table of Contents
4 Ways to Slow Down
Live in the Present Moment
Life goes smoother and becomes more fun when you take time to fully enjoy what’s happening at the present moment.
Sometimes, when I feel exhausted, I slow down by standing by my window, listening to the cars passing in front of my house and just feeling the slight chilliness of my bedroom floor. I free my mind of worries, confusions, and stress for a few minutes and just fully appreciate that exact moment when I can still feel myself breathing and have enough energy to face the day.
So, when you feel like your mind is running a million miles per minute because your past is bothering you or because you’re getting ahead of yourself again and living in fear of what is going to happen next, pause immediately. Breathe, feel the moment and just forget about everything else. In this way, you can avoid setting yourself up for potential heartache and gain control over right here and now while life plays its course and just be.
Get Your Finances in Order
Giving yourself time to think before making an important decision allows you to come up with better and smarter choices for yourself.
In your finances, for instance, when you make a conscious effort to slow down with your spending, you will be able to avoid making impulse and unnecessary purchases. You can also focus more on your financial goals, develop a budget plan that will provide you a clear picture of how much money is coming in and going out of your household, and gain a new perspective on how you can wipe out your credit card debts.
Recharge Your Soul
Slowing down gives you the opportunity to surround yourself with some peace and quiet, unplug yourself from all the worries and distractions, and most importantly it nurtures your soul.
When you’re fully recharged, you can start a new task or begin your day with a peaceful and positive frame of mind, making you more productive and more effective in everything that you do.
This piece of advice is very timely especially during and after the Christmas season. The holidays indeed have their own special way of making you feel overwhelmed and of depleting your energy. With lots of shopping here and there, running from party to party and spending time with family, relatives and friends, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle and miss out on things that truly matter, such as appreciating the moment wherein you are surrounded by the people you love and setting an intention to create more clarity in your life.
To help you slow down and at the same time, get the most out of the holiday season, writer Devon McLeod suggests applying these 3 tips for conquering stress and being more mindful of time.
Notice the Small Things That Give You Joy
Opportunity for downtime gives you the chance to see details that you would just normally overlook when you’re too distracted with so many other things going on around you. It somehow provides you with a deeper sense of happiness, gratitude and contentment as it puts you in a calming and restorative mode, taking away all the pressure and busyness of the world.
It also makes you more mindful about the little things that contribute to your happiness such as the mere presence of your loved ones, the warmth of coffee on a cold morning and the feel of your pet cat rubbing against your legs.
In the piece “What Holiday Mishaps Teaches Us About Contentment,” writer Sarah Seung-McFarland explains the importance of finding opportunity in every one of life’s hurdles to hone in on what you value the most.
I think most of the time finding solitude works, especially when you’re going through challenges because it makes it easier for you to appreciate the little things in your life that truly matter like friendship, good health and the gift of love.
Do you have any other ways to slow down that could help others? Pleas share.
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