OG Tuesday Issue #168

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Enjoy your favorite rich holiday foods and feel minimal sluggishness, work from home for the holidays, do this instead of worrying, and visualize a fiercely empowering 2024.

Festive holiday gatherings *often* mean eating richer foods, eating larger portions, and also eating more frequently. This is a beautiful thing, and no one should feel a shred of shame for easing away from their usual eating patterns during the holidays. However, this does make many people feel a little “off” physically and even mentally.

Indulge and keep feeling 100% with these two holiday helpers: Water and vegetables. 

Water

Hydration is always a positive. It’s especially important to choose water during the holidays, when you might be surrounded by many tempting drinks. (Not to point fingers, but…we’re looking at you, eggnog and hot chocolate.)

According to the experts at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health:

“Drinking enough water each day is crucial for many reasons: to regulate body temperature, keep joints lubricated, prevent infections, deliver nutrients to cells, and keep organs functioning properly. Being well-hydrated also improves sleep quality, cognition, and mood.”

Could those things be more important for surviving and thriving during the holiday season?

Also! Water is essential to keeping your over-taxed holiday digestive system functioning as usual. Drinking more water than you might on an average day helps keep everything moving.

Vegetables

The Everygirl has the scoop on why it feels so good to pile on the veggies:

“Thanks to ditching food rules, you bet I will be enjoying Christmas cookies, eggnog, and pasta. But I also know that those foods just don’t make me feel good. After eating too much gluten, dairy, or sugar, I feel sluggish, uncomfortably bloated, and typically get stomach aches or headaches. To stay my healthiest self and enjoy this time with my family as much as possible, I’ll still eat whatever I want (totally guilt-free), but my focus for each meal will be adding more veggies to the plate. Holiday side dishes like Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and the salad that no one touches are filled with good-for-you nutrients that will make me feel energized and satisfied. I’ll fill up my plate with the nutrients my body needs, while still being able to enjoy the traditional holiday foods that I love.”

Delve into the minds of 2,800+ job seekers with this exclusive Job Seekers Report, utilizing CareerBuilder’s 25+ years of expertise.

The report shares insights on: 

When Perry Como wrote this classic holiday song, he didn’t have working from home in mind. Working from home for the holidays might feel a bit isolating.

People love the flexibility and balance remote work can provide, but it can also contribute to feelings of loneliness. During the holiday season, when it feels like absolutely everyone is out and about, the sense of missing out can inflate like a snow-globe yard decoration.

You don’t have to sit at your desk feeling lonely. Here are two ways to get a restorative fix of human connection.

Go on a field trip to escape the home office. Take your laptop to a bustling public place for a quick fix of loneliness-busting human energy.

Offer to help one of your fellow remote colleagues with something—anything. According to Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Business Relationships that Matter, the best connectors don’t just strive to know more people; they strive to help more people. Even if your colleague works on the other side of the world, supporting them creates a rewarding connection that doesn’t require physical proximity.

Here’s the deal: Stress releases cortisol, which shuts down many of our systems and clouds our rational thinking processes. When you’re under serious pressure, a solution may be simple or even obvious, but your clouded brain can easily miss it.

Get ready for stressful situations by remembering the acronym T.A.P.

T – Think
Think about what you can do before a stressful event instead of just worrying about it.

A – Accept
Accept that in some circumstances, “staying calm” might be beyond your control.

P – Prepare
Prepare for a stressful situation by mentally modelling what you will do if you don’t stay calm.

Example: You’re speaking at an event in a week. You hate public speaking.

T – Think about what you can realistically do to avoid or work around all the things you’re worrying about.

A –  Accept that even if you practice your talk a million times, standing up in front of all those people is a completely different experience, one you may have an uncontrollable physical reaction to. (Shaking voice or hands.)

P – Prepare a plan or props to use when and if your hands start shaking. For example, you might bring a heavy binder or book to help stablize your hands.

In the world of Chinese astrology, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Sounds pretty empowering, right?

Before the new year actually arrives, take some time to imagine what your own 2024 dragon looks like.

Here are some prompts based on what the dragon traditionally symbolizes:

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