It’s the time of year when we are confronted with the pressure to be cheerful. No matter what you celebrate (or don’t), the onslaught of holiday décor, songs, recipes, gift-exchange rituals, holiday parties has begun!

We’re also pressured to wrap everything up, not just the gifts. Year-end projects to be completed, year-end goals to be achieved, numbers to be made. For those with younger children, the list is even more daunting, schoolwork, school pageants, school break plans – and even more gifts to consider.

We are expected to cheerfully wrap up major parts of our lives and ourselves in shiny paper so that we can magically start brand new things on New Years Day. Really? Standing up and screaming, “Can we all just stop the madness?” is appealing, yet the whole culture, at least in the Western World, has become a force of nature, like a tidal wave.

So how to prepare for this holiday tsunami? My new AI assistant, Chatty Cathy, came back with three proven tsunami preparation steps which I have adapted for this purpose and share here for your holiday safety:

1. Know the Warning Signs: Holiday décor showing up on the streets of your town, holiday music and displays showing up in stores, holiday events appearing on your calendar, charity appeals, pervasive aromas of cinnamon and pine, cider and eggnog offered as beverages.
2. Understand Evacuation Routes: Find your own higher ground, including a favorite place to take a walk in nature, best places to park to leave a party early, hot bath, and most importantly, your own inner stillness. Practice evacuation plans, such as daily meditation! There’s no better place to be in chaos than coming home to yourself.
3. Emergency Supplies: Your own non-holiday playlist, foods, beverages, aromatherapy, a trusted friend or two to call. Your own holiday rituals, ways that you have found or want to create to make this time meaningful for you.

Having offered this, I also love this time of year. On the positive side, the environmental cues can encourage us to be kinder, friendlier, more appreciative, and happier than we might otherwise be feeling.

As a recovering perfectionist, it’s been about letting go of the pressure, and being more in the flow. Allowing rituals and traditions to evolve or fall away altogether and not feeling compelled to replace them right away – or at all. Finding peace with what isn’t wrapped up all bright and shiny, what’s not checked off on a list; finding joy with all the many blessings that are here right now.

Here’s to you finding your higher holiday ground!