Staying Stress Free this Holiday Season

The holidays are definitely coming and for many, it is a stressful time of the year. Here are a few tips to help you stay stress free this holiday season.

1. Be prepared. Haste makes waste is what they always say. Get ready and get ready early. Don’t wait until the last minute to do your shopping for your food. Cut your coupons early and start stocking up on all your Thanksgiving food items. It will work best if you make a list.

2. Do your Christmas food shopping while you do your Thanksgiving shopping as well. Sam’s Club, BJ’s and the like sell items in bulk allowing you to use some and save some for later. Don’t wait until the last minute and get caught up in long lines trying to purchase your food. Or having to go to more than one store because the first store is already sold out of some of the items that you need. You can “kill two birds with one stone.”

3. Make a budget for each holiday and stick to it. No matter what, do not go over your budget. Nothing causes more stress than being broke and not having money for all the things that you need. Buy the most important things first then worry about the small stuff.

4. Clean up early. Most of us have a little extra cleaning to do for the holidays or when we are expecting company. Don’t wait until the week of, start now. Clean a little each day or each week and you won’t have to stress yourself trying to cook and clean all at the same time and get mad with the kids when they don’t move fast enough.

5. Don’t wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start shopping for Christmas. The day after Christmas has a lot of sales and gimmicks to get you in the store, but don’t do all your shopping on that one day. Start early. I know some people who Christmas shop all year round. This will help to stretch your money which will alleviate a lot of stress. We all know that being without money causes stress. And remember, set a budget and stick to it.

6. Lastly, if you do not have it, don’t worry. The holidays are about friends and family and not about gifts. The true meaning of the holidays are being lost and degraded. Be thankful that you have family and share that moment and remember the reason for the season; For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that who so ever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

For more tips on how to relieve stress and to live a stress free life, please visit my website at www.theathomedayspa.com or visit my blog at www.theathomedayspa.blogspot.com

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Are You Afraid of Change?

A metathesiophobic is someone who fears change. Are you a metathesiophobic? If so, you're human.

Most of us fear change because change usually brings the unfamiliar. When we encounter the unfamiliar, we feel like we're losing control. So, experiencing resistance to change is a common feeling. So common, in fact, that it's easy to find great quotes on the subject of change. Here a few to ponder:

When you're finished changing, you're finished - Benjamin Franklin

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change - Charles Darwin

Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely - Unknown

We change, whether we like it or not - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your current safe boundaries were once unknown frontiers - Unknown

Chang is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become - Unknown

We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi

If you don't create change, change will create you - Unknown

The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable - JFK


What's changing in your life?

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It's A New Day

When you are backed up against the wall, in a corner, and feel like you are down for the count...know that there is a NEW DAY waiting on the horizon for you! That NEW DAY is filled with opportunity, change, renewal, and restoration. Listen closely...is a NEW DAY calling your name waiting for you to come inside to experience the refreshing thought that you can leave woes and worries in the old day that has passed and take advantage of the newness!

After a 36 year battle of the buldge, I have decided to take advantage of my NEW DAY. What does that mean? It means that I will be committed and consistent. It means that I have thrown away my crutch that used to say 'it's that time of the month' I feel weak, I am in pain, I am bloated, etc. It means that I will not be saying alot, just doing alot.

Although I plan to take full advantage of my NEW DAY, I realize that there will be challenging days, days where I feel that what I am doing is not paying off, and days where I just don't feel like it...but because I am now living in a NEW DAY it has helped me to deal with my perspective while continuing to FIGHT and move forward.

So, remember EVERYDAY is a NEW DAY...BUT DON'T DELAY we do not know when our NEW DAY is our last day...so make the most out of your NEW DAY in every way!

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Eat or Cheat

I was watching a television show last night in which there was a CHEAT Cabinet and an Eat Cabinet. The choice of word usage caught my eye as well. When you think of the word eat, you think of a positive connotation; however, if you add the common CH blend in front of eat you get CHEAT which gives a negative connotation. I was intrigued because the choices that we make are that simple. Do you want to eat to be healthy or CHEAT your family, your friends or your life because you continue to cheat yourself. But in the work and leave the "CH" in the pastures to graze on itself.

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Work for It

Nothing in life comes easy. Anything worth having is worth working for. If you work for it, you appreciate it more. If it comes too easily, you don't really appreciate it. Are you working for it. It is this case refers to weight loss. Do you want it bad enough to work to get the results that you are looking for. It is God's desire that we be healthy. That is the goal that I am trying to achieve. Healthy for you may not be healthy for me. You must define what being healthy means to you and give 100% effort to reach your goal.

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The Ladies of Legacy has Birthed a New Ministry

In light of the "big news" of the TV reality stars separation and being that I don't usually mention tabloid news; I would like to announce the birth of an important ministry from a member of the Ladies of Legacy, Diva1. Her marriage ministry is deep in her heart and very special to her. She has named the ministry Harmony and I will post our monthly gatherings as a monthly segment of our blog titled, "After You Say I Do."

Diva1 is unable to commit to posting at this time but her ministry and love of it has lead me to share her spirit and the love of marriage with everyone.

Now speaking of Jon and Kate, they are deciding to separate for a time contributing to 50% of marriages in the United States ending in divorce. Diva1 is ready to challenge that statistic head on and not allow the enemy to succeed. Her Harmony ministry is aimed directly at rebuilding and restoring marriage through fellowship, prayer and addressing issues head on. A lot of times we run from problems instead of confronting them causing them to fester and build.

I would personally like to thank Diva1 for her ability to hear God's word and her willingness to speak life into others and her courage to defeat the odds of failed marriages in our society.

Take a bow Diva1 because you deserve it.

If you know of anyone that our blog could be a blessing to, please invite them to join us as we strive to do our best to improve our lives as well as others.

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Vivid Reminders

This morning my job asked me to do something I have not done in 10 years. I had to drive the van to do pick ups and drop offs in the public housing areas. I had no problem with doing it because I like working with kids, plus my job is super easy.

I guess out of site really means out of mind. I had forgotten the sites of public housing and the way some of us live. I guess I forgot that 1 in 4 African-Americans live in poverty in the United States. I have not worked with children in years, especially kids in low-income areas so I guess I forgot that 35% of African-American children live in poor families.

The 3 or 4 year old little girl that I saw standing outside on the corner all alone before 8:00 in the morning while men roamed freely as they worked and others moved along throughout the neighborhood; all the people sitting out on their porches first thing in the morning with their pajamas on and rags on their head and the trash that was everywhere first thing in the morning brought it all back to me.

It brought back to my attention that even though we have a black president, the first black president and leader of the free world (whatever that means), we still have a long long way to go.
Even in the year 2009 the year of our Lord.

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