Make your list, check it twice

By Times staff
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 11, 2001

Heave some ho, ho, ho When stress saps holiday spirit, it's time to simplify. Decide what gives you joy and concentrate on those things alone. Help for the holidays The Tampa Bay Professional Coaching Association is offering a free month of coaching for individuals, businesses and others who need help post-Sept. 11 and during the holidays. Make your list, check it twice The season's stresses will bury the joy if you don't set priorities for what makes you and yours happy, mental health experts say. To decide what you want most for the holidays, rank the following activities, then focus on your top few.

The season's stresses will bury the joy if you don't set priorities for what makes you and yours happy, mental health experts say. To decide what you want most for the holidays, rank the following activities, then focus on your top few.

Christmas is a time to:

1. Be a peacemaker in my family and the world at large.

2. Spend enjoyable time with my immediate family.

3. Reunite with my relatives.

4. Celebrate the birth of Christ.

5. Create a festive and beautiful home environment.

6. Show my love and generosity through gifts.

7. Remember the poor, lonely and needy.

8. Be active in my church community.

9. Celebrate with friends.

10. Relax and be renewed.

-- Source: Unplug the Christmas Machine, by Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli (Quill, October 1991, paperback), now in its 13th printing.

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