When It’s Never Enough: How to Reclaim Time, Sanity, and Space This Season
Children skipping merrily, family dinners filled with laughter, good food, and moments that feel straight out of a Hallmark movie. It’s the most wonderful time of the year… right?
The holiday season can bring some of the most gratifying and joyful moments of the year but it also happens to be the most hectic. Suddenly your calendar is filled with every event possible, there are school recitals squeezed between pressing work obligations, your house needs to be deep cleaned because you’re hosting dinner, and you still haven’t considered what gifts to get everyone. The mental chatter is endless and the emotional weight of making the holidays feel magical is palpable.
As we all know, anything that looks effortless actually takes a lot of effort. And if you’re the person running the household (i.e the planner and glue that holds everything together) then you’ll quickly start to feel the pressure of it all. That constant feeling of not doing enough. All that to say, it’s easy to spread yourself thin. And if you’ve already started to feel the brunt of holiday responsibilities, you’re not imagining it. The good news is that you’re not alone. Many high-performing women and families feel this way.
Why Does It Feel Worse During the Holidays?
The holidays amplify everything. There are more tasks, more events, more effort, more you needed. There’s always something to do and at the same time it feels like nothing is getting done.
According to a 2023 American Psychological Association study, 41% of respondents said their stress increases during this time compared with other times of the year.
As the holidays kick off, it can be increasingly heavy as you straddle family drama, holiday travel, busy schedules, work-life balance, and everyone’s expectation of what the season should look like. All of that weight tends to be further compounded by conflicting feelings: You want to make the most of the holidays and spend time with your friends and family, but the effort feels so tumultuous. You end up feeling guilty for feeling overwhelmed, which makes the emotional load all the more burdensome.
And who could forget the weather working against you. In Seattle, this season means colder temperatures and long, dark evenings.
It’s just enough to leave you feeling exhausted, low on energy, nearing the end of your rope. The truth is simple. You can’t, nor are you meant to, do it all alone.
While it may be tempting, this isn’t a personal failure. And fortunately, there are ways to bring calm back into your days using small, intentional shifts to make this season feel far more manageable.
Practical Ways to Reclaim Peace During the Holidays
Here are a few grounded ways to lighten your holiday load.
1.Set Gentle (But Firm) Boundaries
Boundaries are important all year long, but they are particularly essential during the holidays. These personal rules are how you let everyone know what you can and cannot take on. Don’t be afraid of declining an invitation or pushing back when someone volunteers you for something you never agreed to. If you fall into the mental trap of believing that you’re being difficult, remind yourself that you’re just being honest about your capacity.
You may feel guilty at first, and that’s normal, but remember that advocating for yourself, knowing your “hard no” categories, and honoring your bandwidth makes every “yes” you do give more meaningful and far more rewarding.
2. Use Systems to Save Mental Energy
The holiday season comes with a laundry list of requirements and expectations. One of them is the need to keep track of more than usual. It should come as no surprise that one of the stressors of the holidays isn’t necessarily the tasks themselves but remembering and staying on top of them. That’s why proper systems are so important. Don’t run your household on memory alone. Instead, implement systems to hold the details so you don’t have to.
Consider some of these tools to lighten your mental load:
- Use a shared family calendar to keep schedules aligned
- Create a gift-planning spreadsheet or list so you’re not guessing who gets what
- Automate deliveries for household staples you always run out of
- Pre-schedule errands to prevent last-minute scrambles
- Schedule weekly resets to help you regroup and set the tone for the week
- Create digital reminders for recurring tasks that easily slip through the cracks
For some this might feel too rigid, but the right systems create freedom so you can have mental clarity and enough breathing room to enjoy the things that make this season brighter.
3. Simplify Your Holiday Traditions
Holiday traditions are like family heirlooms. They have a sneaky way of being handed down to you … which turns into you accepting them but never stopping to ask if you really want them or if they’re just creating clutter.
Some traditions are beautiful and meaningful. Others might just be here because of someone else’s expectations. So this year, pause for a second and ask yourself: Does this tradition bring me joy or stress? Would anyone be truly devastated if we didn’t do it? Is there a simpler version we can try instead?
Here’s a little secret: You can still be the “hostess with the mostest” even if you don’t cook every single dish for the family dinner. You can cater the meal and plate it beautifully (and even take the credit).
Because really, what’s the point in having extensive traditions all they do is leave you too exhausted to even enjoy them?
4. Prioritize What Only You Can Do
The truth is that not everything needs your input. You don’t have to be everything to everybody. That also means you don’t have to be the final judge for every decision. As you make note of all the holiday-related responsibilities, highlight the things that genuinely require your specific input and skills. Those get a place on the to-do list. But everything else is eligible for delegation.
Picking out a gift for your parents? Sure that goes on the list. But waiting in a return line? That might not need your personal touch. You’ll definitely want to decorate the tree with your kids but no one will complain if you got the gifts wrapped at the store.
You may ask, how will I make my family’s holiday special if it isn’t my doing? Your holidays will be all the better because you weren’t bogged down in tasks and were able to be present enough to enjoy it.
But we get it, delegating is hard. Will they do it right and to my standard? Will I still have to step in and make things right when things go inevitably wrong?
Which is why the right support is imperative.
Take on the Holidays With a Pepper’s Personal Assistant
You’re capable and organized, but there comes a point in the holiday season where even the most high-performing person hits a limit on what they can reasonably carry alone.
This is exactly where Pepper’s steps in. Think of us as not only an extra pair of hands but an extra executive brain. A personal assistant can make the difference between just surviving the season and really enjoying it.
Imagine walking into a home that’s already handled, with the gifts purchased and wrapped, the fridge stocked, the errands done, the guest room ready, and the appointments scheduled.
Here are just a few things we can take off your plate this season to make that holiday-ready home a reality:
- Event prep and event coordination
- Gift research, purchasing, wrapping, and shipping
- Returns, exchanges, and all those other tedious errands
- Home organization and seasonal resets
- Scheduling holiday appointments and service vendors
- Managing logistics for visiting family and guests
- Grocery shopping and meal prep support
- Travel planning, packing assistance, and itinerary coordination
Make this holiday the one where you finally get to breathe and take it all in, where you’re present for all the festivities because you weren’t drowning in your to-do list. Book a discovery call today to learn how we can help you make this holiday season one of the best yet.
