Break that holiday cycle.Byline: The Register-Guard For a lot of folks, the annual week-before-Christmas drill goes something like this: Get up. Fret about everything you haven't done yet to get ready for the holidays. Scramble to work. Take a lunch break. Make a list of everything you haven't done and fret about how in the world you're going to pull it all off. Plow back into the job. Rush home. Eat a lousy microwave meal. Fret about the slabs of fat you've acquired since Thanksgiving. Hold on, there's more: Drive to the mall, and fret about finding a parking place. Fret when you find out the video game (the one you've been fretting fret·ting n. A hole, or worn or polished spot made on metals by abrasion or erosion. about because it's too violent) that your kid craves is sold out and won't be available until March. Go home. Fret about everything you didn't get done. Go to sleep. Get up in the middle of night. Fret about not sleeping. Then wake up in the morning and fret about having to begin the whole miserable cycle all over again. There are infinite variations on this sorry theme, of course. But for many, the constants tend to be a frantic pace, nonstop HP's brand name for its fault-tolerant servers, which range in size from four CPUs to 4,000 CPUs. The NonStop line was created by Tandem Computers, which was acquired by Compaq, which later became part of HP. stress, and, you got it, fretting, fretting, fretting. It doesn't have to be this way. It really doesn't. There are plenty of things you can do - and perhaps more importantly, don't have to do - to restore some sanity Reasonable understanding; sound mind; possessing mental faculties that are capable of distinguishing right from wrong so as to bear legal responsibility for one's actions. SANITY, med. jur. The state of a person who has a sound understanding; the reverse of insanity. and perspective to your holidays. A few suggestions: First, know when to call it quits quits adj. On even terms with by payment or requital: I am finally quits with the loan. [Middle English, probably alteration (influenced by Medieval Latin . Resist that compulsion COMPULSION. The forcible inducement to au act. 2. Compulsion may be lawful or unlawful. 1. When a man is compelled by lawful authority to do that which be ought to do, that compulsion does not affect the validity of the act; as for example, when a court of to go out and buy just one more gift, an urge that invariably in·var·i·a·ble adj. Not changing or subject to change; constant. in·var  i·a·bil leads to another and
another. Odds are good that no one will notice - or care - if those last
frantic purchases never get made.
Next, wad up that to-do list, and take the entire evening off - heck, make it two - and do something truly nice for yourself and, if you have one, your family. Turn off the TV and computer. Play a card game. Read a poem and then read it again, this time out loud. Read the first chapter of your favorite novel. Call an old friend you went to high school with and haven't seen for years. Sit by a fire. Listen to music - or make some, if you can (shock your neighbors by going caroling - we dare you). Make a batch of green Christmas tree Christmas tree Evergreen tree, usually decorated with lights and ornaments, to celebrate the Christmas season. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands as symbols of eternal life was common among the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. cookies from scratch. Talk to a teen-ager for longer than 15 seconds and listen, really listen, to what he or she is saying. Go to a midnight service. Hold a candle. Pray. And, above all, don't fret. |
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