The key to staying balanced during the holiday season with social media and technology is to have guidelines in place for yourself. These guidelines don’t have to be strict or too many. Just enough to make sure that you keep balance in your life whether in personal or business environments.

The purpose of this post is to share tips to help you stay balanced with your holiday shopping, social media usage and gadget/technology handling. These tips have been what has helped me to stay balanced and joyful during this time of the year.

What are some of the side-effects of getting out of balance during the holiday season?

Whether holiday shoppers want to admit it or not, there are side-effects to shopping during the holiday season that can cause you to experience heightened emotions. Some of these are:

  • Overwhelmed shoppers: Overwhelmed by finding everything on the list, finding every toy or even just trying to keep the family communicating in a peaceful environment. It’s okay to admit that you have experienced this, just hold on, I have a solution for you. What can be helpful is to have an accountability person that you can discuss your plans with and who will alert you when they recognize you are getting overwhelmed.
  • Frustrated gifters: Buy a gift, the receiver wants to return and exchange it for what they want. Or you go to 5 stores who say they have the item you want in stock yet when you get there, they mysteriously are out of stock. Maybe they recommend a replacement item. Don’t fret, I have a solution for you too. Instead of running around town and getting frustrated, check if the stores have a website where you can order online. If not, then maybe you can find something different at a different store that has a website. One mobile app that could help you is Zoomingo that lets you know about local sales before you get out the door.
  • Overspending technologist: This is where I’ve been in the past and felt that you couldn’t have too many gadgets. Yet it caused that January regret when the credit card statement comes to you and you go, OOPS. There’s a solution for you too. What helped me in the past was to put myself on a common sense budget. Yes I said the “B” word and I said common sense. Having a budget in place has helped in a big way to keep expenses in control and has kept me from getting overwhelmed or frustrated.

How can people stay balanced during this holiday season?

As I mentioned before, staying balanced during the holiday season is very important. Three simple tips to help you stay balanced are: planning, scheduling and “me time”. Below are ways that you can do just that…

  • Planning is very important to staying balanced because you have to know where to be, how to get there, what to wear, why you are going there and so much more. Create a holiday calendar with all of the activities that you want to do this holiday season. Then make sure that you have everything in place the night before or even a few days before for that activity.
  • Scheduling goes hand and hand with planning because scheduling is based on the time factor. Which means that allotting time for travel to and from an activity is just as important as the actual planning for the activities. I would suggest using such tools as Google Calendar along with its Task feature for planning and scheduling your holiday season activities.
  • “Me time” is important to staying balanced because it can help you recharge your energy level. It’s not just important during the holiday season, it’s a good idea to plan “me time” throughout the year. Continue reading for more tips about “me time” ideas.

What options do people have for “me time” to help stay balanced?

So you are ready for ideas about “me time” and you want suggestions? Great because here’s a starter list of things you can do during your “me time” to stay balanced.

  • Spa time is important and you can do this in the home or outside of your home at a spa business. If you do choose to do an in home spa day, check out the many beauty and health blogs for recipes and instructions on how to create a relaxing spa environment in your home.
  • Vegging out may seem like a waste of time but in moderation you would be amazed at how this time can help you relax. Catch up on your favorite television shows or curl up in bed with some DVD’s.
  • Play time is the broadest of these “me time” suggestions because it really depends on you personally. Maybe you love video games, golf or some other type of sport. Whatever your play time is indulge yourself for a day and have as much fun as possible doing it.

The holiday season can be such a joyous time of the year. The key to ensuring that you enjoy it to the fullest is to make sure that you are aware of the ways that you can get unbalanced and be proactive in preventing this from happening. Remember to take time out for yourself and have a safe holiday.