How to Take Time for You this Christmas | A Simple and Contented Life

INSIDE: You’ve worked hard during this challenge to make sure you have plenty of quality family time together this Christmas. Now it’s time to focus on yourself. And that’s what today’s challenge is all about! It’s time to make time for you and bring some self-care into your holiday season!

Welcome to Day 22 of the 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas Challenge series!

If you’ve been following this challenge from the very beginning, you’ll have noticed that at the end of each week I give you a day off. A day where you get to take a break and celebrate your wins. Why? So that it’s not all ‘work‘. And so that you have time to pause and reflect and the opportunity to regroup and plan your coming week.

If you’re to complete this challenge and plan a stress-free Christmas, you need this ‘you‘ time. That goes without saying. But here’s the thing. As important as this ‘you‘ time is, it’s not the same as making time for you on a daily basis. You need to be consistently making your wellbeing and self-care a priority – especially during this busy holiday season! And that’s exactly what today’s challenge is all about.

You’ve spent a lot of time this week – and the two before that – focusing on family and ensuring there’ll be quality time together this Christmas. Now it’s time to focus on yourself. It’s time to figure out how you’re going to take time for you – not just today but every single day!

Challenge #22: Make some time for you…

All important time for you…

For today’s challenge, I want you to go through your diary and block out some time for you this week – and every week leading up to Christmas and into the New Year. Whether it’s five minutes, half an hour, a morning or a whole day, it doesn’t matter. Find some time, block it out and make it non-negotiable.

If you can, try to do at least one big activity each week that helps you to unwind and relax that’s just for you. Then, add one small thing to your day every day that gives you five minutes to yourself where you can regroup and recharge your batteries.

Making time for you with a happy list…

A great way – and probably my favourite way – to make time for you is to create a happy list. If you don’t have one of these yet, I highly recommend creating one! Simply make a list of everything that makes you smile, that helps you to chill out and feel relaxed and then try to do one of them every single day.

It could be reading a book, listening to music, grabbing a coffee or taking a long hot bath. Add everything you can think of to your list and try to something from it every single day – WITHOUT feeling guilty about doing it! Here are a few of the things I have on my list to help you get started:

Going for a walk whilst listening to my favourite podcasts.
Taking myself off for a coffee in Starbucks.
Losing myself in a bookstore.
Window shopping in Paperchase.
Catching up on my watchlist on Netflix.
Driving in my car whilst singing (badly!) to my favourite songs.
Watching the Harry Potter movies – for the hundredth time!
Going through my cookbooks, picking something to make and spending an afternoon baking.
Lighting the fire and candles, putting on some music and curling up on the sofa with a good book.

Not used to taking time for you?

That’s okay! If you’re not used to having time for you, it’ll probably feel very strange at first. Especially if you’re wrestling with a touch of mum guilt too. But try to ignore and push past those feelings. Soon it won’t feel strange at all and you’ll come to look forward to those few moments to yourself!

Whatever you do, don’t feel guilty. You’re allowed to take time for you. There’s nothing selfish about self-care. In fact, the most selfless thing you can do for you and your family is to take care of yourself first – especially during this busy holiday season!

Need a little help on how to make time for you?

Take a look at Day 5 of this challenge. You’ll find some great suggestions on how to have a spot of ‘me time‘. In addition, Day 12 was all about simple ways to have a rest. And on Day 19, I shared 25 things to do by yourself as well as 50 ways to practice self-care. So definitely go back and check those out if you need a little more inspiration! Take a look at these self-care posts from the blog too:

Self-Care on Pinterest…

On Pinterest? Be sure to check out and follow my Self-Care and Self-Love board! It’s jam-packed with ideas on how to make time for you and make your wellbeing more of a priority – including all of the self-care posts from this blog.

You’ll also find boards on happiness, health and wellness, mindfulness, personal growth, practicing gratitude and routines and schedules. All of which are perfect for helping you make more time for you and bringing a little bit of self-care into your every day!

That’s it for today!

I’ll be back tomorrow with challenge #23 of 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas challenge. In the meantime, have fun making time for you and bringing a little more self-care into your every day! And be sure to check out the rest of the posts for this challenge if you haven’t done so already too!

That’s it for this post! How will you make time for you and build some self-care into your day this holiday season? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time…

P.S. Get all of the Christmas challenges by email!

Want a little more accountability? Don’t forget that you can sign up to receive each challenge by email! Every day for the next 30 days I’ll land in your inbox with the next Christmas challenge. A great way to remind you to take action, you’ll also receive my FREE Ultimate Christmas Planning Checklist too!

In it, you’ll find checklists for your Christmas budget, Christmas shopping, meal planning and prepping, family traditions, planning your travel and so much more. With every Christmas planning step you can possibly think of listed, no stone will be left unturned and nothing will be forgotten!

Simply enter your email address below and I’ll send it to you right away along with the first challenge!