Embracing the Fun and Avoiding the Fatigue – Holiday Tips for Seniors
With Halloween only a few days away, it’s safe to say that we have truly entered the holiday season. Within the next two months, we’ll all have a chance to enjoy the festivities of the Winter season. It’s tempting to simply “cut loose”, live in the moment and take everything that comes our way as an opportunity to have fun and celebrate.
For seniors, understand how to maximize your enjoyment without overexerting is key. With that in mind, we’ve created this brief guide to introduce 4 easy steps you can take to keep the holidays exciting and not exhausting.
Prioritize Joyful Holiday Activities for Seniors
The first step to planning a successful holiday season is to prioritize what really matters to you. Where do you find the most happiness? The activities that bring you the most joy should be at the top of your list. Some of these may be relatively low-intensity activities, like a holiday movie night with friends. Others, such as visiting relatives in nearby cities or states, could require significantly more time, energy and financial resources.
Know what really makes the holidays worthwhile is essential if you’re going to make this season unforgettable. Don’t fall in the trip of planning your holidays around the expectations and requests of others.
Stay Active with Senior-Friendly Holiday Exercises
It can be easy to forget about our physical health during the cold winter months, especially during the days and weeks leading up the holidays. It is perfectly natural to prioritize dinners and get-togethers during this time, but too much of these activities can make you feel lethargic and not energized.
Carve out time during the winter months to start or continue an exercise program. This doesn’t have to be complex – in fact, it can be something as reserving 30 minutes daily to walk around your block and breathe fresh air. Exercise re-invigorates the mind, body and spirit. This time outdoor will help you feel calm, focused and present with friends and family. Always consult with a doctor before launching a new exercise program – this will ensure that you’re reaping all of the positive benefits of your routine without creating unnecessary injury risk.
Keep in Touch Without Feeling Burdened
Everyone knows that increased stress comes hand-in-hand with the holiday season. For many of us, this stress is sourced from the perceived obligations placed on our shoulders by friends and family. If you’re dreading picking up the phone to call a friend or can’t muster the energy to prepare for an in-person get together, this should be a sign that your schedule needs to change.
Stress Should Be Avoided At All Costs
Stress and fatigue will always be red flags. Both of these conditions are directly linked to increase illness in adults of all ages. Instead of getting overwhelmed by these negative emotions, commit to protecting your time and energy and learning how to say “no.” Don’t turn your weekly schedule into a centerpiece of chaos: sometimes, less certainly is more, and this is one such example. Don’t commit yourself to a wide number of get-togethers or parties. Instead, offer to call the friends and family doing-the-inviting and ask if there’s an opportunity to speak more in person outside of formal events.
Embrace Flexibility from the Get-Go
Whatever age you are, one of the most important lessons we can learn is this: not everything going exactly according to plan. Even if you have followed each of the steps outlined here, there’s a high likelihood at the holidays will “throw you a curve ball” at one point or another. And, that’s absolutely ok! No matter what happens, you have the toolkit you need to assess what’s most important to you and how you can pursue it.
Best Wishes From The Valley Home Care Team
From all of us here at Valley Home Care, we hope you have a great holiday season. Stay tuned through the upcoming months as we deliver more blogs loaded with helpful tips, fun facts and insights which we think you’ll enjoy reading!
