The last week of 2015 was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weeks of the year!

My husband was off all week thanks to his company’s annual shutdown. This extra vacation time each year is such a gift for our family – a chance to un-wind and relax between the bookends of Christmas and New Year’s.

When I think about that week (and while I didn’t blog at all during that time), I have to admit that we did not hurry for much of anything. We enjoyed many lazy mornings, lounging in our p.j.’s., playing games, watching movies, working on puzzles, etc. We saw friends for lunch, bowling, and even hosted several families for New Year’s Eve.

In one word it was peaceful.

That week made me think about 2016 and my personal goals or resolutions. I’ve decided “Less hurry and less worry” will be my mantra….sort of like a modified “Don’t Worry. Be Happy.”

I attended a presentation on Realistic Optimism in late 2015, where the presenter, a psychotherapist, shared that hurrying is one of the greatest causes of stress. Life is a series of sprints and there’s a lot of rushing around. Downtime is a necessary time to re-charge to be able to bring energy to each “sprint” or challenge you may face.

Less Hurry Every Morning

I can feel the stress every morning when hurrying my kindergarten daughter along in her routine (I wrote about this HERE). I feel hurried and worried about her being late. But honestly, what am I really worried about? It ISN’T the worst thing in the world if she misses the bus. If anything, letting her BE late may provide motivation to do better the next day. Fortunately, I’m also given chances to try different things to help simplify our mornings as a family. And part of that is changing my mindset in how to gently encourage and help instead of nag and repeat, “Hurry up. You’re going to be late.”

Less Hurry – Plan Ahead & Communicate

I love to plan and organize, so part of less hurry means planning ahead and making sure my family knows our plans. This means checking in with Daddy O. and reviewing what we absolutely must do before the next day or what’s coming up in the week. I realize that simply having it on our shared calendar is not enough without a conversation about it. Family meal time has become a great time to discuss what’s going on.

Less Hurry – Stop Multi-tasking

Part of my hurrying is self-induced, when I choose to spend more time on my smartphone in the morning instead of getting ready. I am trying to put down my phone more and stay focused on what “must be done” versus what I’d like to do. I constantly hear my daughter say, “But I got distracted” when getting ready, and yes, I’m guilty of that too!

While I love multi-tasking, there are some times that it just doesn’t work (not to mention research that says it’s counter-productive). When possible, I hope to do better to carve out time for one given task instead of trying to do five things at once. And just because I CAN check email, social media and respond to notifications instantly doesn’t mean that I NEED to.

Less Worry – Let Go

When I’m not hurried and stressed, I think that means I will worry less! I’m also trying to let go and be more spontaneous at times. As we learned over our holiday break, there is something so wonderful about just “being” together and not being focused on “doing” all the time.

I’ll leave you with one awesome quote that I wrote down from the Realistic Optimism presentation:

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. – Viktor Frankl

Cheers to less hurry, less worry and becoming a better me in 2016!