3 Tips for Staying Present This Holiday Season

by Alexandra Cunningham December 22, 2021

Set It Down's 3 Tips for Staying Present This Holiday Season

The best part of Christmas is not the glorious gifts under the tree. While it's fun to give and receive gifts, the best holiday gift is your presence. Here are three tips that Set It Down has come up with to help you stay present this holiday season.

Tip #1 Practice Environmental Self-Care

Get your screens out of sight and out of mind.

Photo by Alpha Trade Zone

Clean space, clean mind. Well, it's not necessarily a clean space if we have screens everywhere we go. If we are trying to get away from screens and focus on our self-care, we should first be aware of where the screens are and how we can eliminate them from our sight. Overall, this will help us stay focused while we take the time to spruce up our space!
Here are some ways to practice environmental self-care for your screens:

Power down your computers- desktop and/or laptop.
Hide your laptop and tablets in drawers or in your briefcase
Make a designated location to store phones when you have family around- like a box in the entry hall, sock drawer, purse.
Move your phone charging station outside of your family room and bedroom.

Once you get all the screens out of sight and out of mind, start laying around activities that you want to do. Lay out activities like:

Card games and puzzles on your family room table
Books on your bedside table
Journal on your desk
Knitting supplies on your couch

This way, you will reach for these activities to do with others instead of reaching for your phone and screens.

Photo by Pixabay

Tip #2 Do a Social Media Detox

Photo by Pixabay

We highly recommend a social media detox during the holidays. From December 23 to January 2nd, consider eliminating all of your social media apps. Don't worry about breaking a streak or not being up to date on all the activities your friends have been doing on their vacation, you can catch up in person later. It's super easy to waste time doom-scrolling, we have all been there. This holiday, let's make the most of it by doing the activities we've been wanting to do all year! Here's how to start:

Write on your social media that you're taking a moment to rest and reset from social this holiday.
Make a list of your bucket list items to do this holiday and into the New Year
Start the ones that are the most important to you
Call your friends and family to see if they want to join any activity
Put this on your fridge as a reminder
Act Now

Make a bucket list of activities you want to do for 2022

Photo by Picjumbo

Tip #3 Turn OFF Notifications on Most Apps

We highly suggest turning off all the unnecessary app notifications so that you can stay present and in the moment. When we get all our bings, beeps and vibrations from our smart phones, our mindset is now distracted by the thought of "What's on my phone that I need to look at". Start by doing these steps:

Go through all your apps and delete any that you do not use or need anymore.
Move all work or school related apps to the last page of your apps. Out of sight and out of mind.
Go to your smart phone's notification center, and change the apps notification to off.
For some apps with a high value, like the phone call app, try switching the notification to fewer bings and beeps.

Photo by Cristian Dina

Well, get moving on these three tips for staying present this holiday season. The best gift of all is your presence, so implement these tips now to be fully in the moment for the holidays.