Design A Year That Balances Celebration And Rest

We share a simple plan to turn holidays, birthdays, and vacations into calm, joyful memories through early booking, smart delegation, and built‑in rest. From month‑by‑month planning to digital detox and gratitude for stylists, we show how to design a year that actually restores you.

• purpose‑first planning for gatherings and trips
• task delegation using shared calendars and group texts
• early bookings to save money and reduce stress
• themes to simplify choices and avoid overload
• budgeting with a monthly celebration fund
• vacation buffer days and rest as fuel
• digital detox, board games, and mindful breaks
• month‑by‑month guide from January to December
• gratitude ideas for stylists, barbers, and helpers
• motivation to mark dates and commit to joy

Please take a minute to complete my quick listener survey
I will share the quick listener survey. It is on my website with the link in today’s podcast
Remember to share this podcast with five people, encourage them to listen, tag them in the comments, tag me on my social media at Wondra Spencer

Chapters

• 9:21 Welcome And Episode Focus
• 11:14 Why Plan Holidays, Birthdays, Vacations
• 14:34 Delegate Tasks And Enjoy Your Guests
• 16:15 Shoutout To Stylists And Gratitude Ideas
• 18:53 Plan Early To Cut Stress And Costs
• 21:51 Themes, Balance, And Annual Holiday Map

Transcript

Wondra : 6:24

Hello and welcome to the Motivational Fuel podcast. I am your host, Wondra. I hope everyone is safe and well and enjoying this holiday season. This week I want to share things about planning for your yearly holidays and birthdays and vacations. And it's a time to rest, relax, and plan early. So we want to focus on the importance of planning yearly holidays and birthdays and some relaxing vacations. And it's a special time to gather your loved ones, think about your cherished moments, create some new ones. And if you're celebrating these occasions, it's a time to take a break from our busy lives, recharge our spirits, and fully embrace the joy and relaxation. Well, as we explore the planning to ensure every detail is arranged, making the most of our beloved moments throughout the year, we can dive into the joys of the festive activities you're going to plan, the art of relaxation, and really how to organize yourself and place it on a calendar and enjoy the life to the fullest. Life isn't just about the work that we do, it's about the moments that we celebrate, the memories that we create, and the joy we allow for ourselves to feel. So let's hop into the planning of your holidays and birth and birthdays and vacations. If you're tuning in from social media, please take a minute to complete my quick listener survey. It will be helpful for me. I know the holidays are here, and you can plan much in advance, such as your menu, who's going to cook and prep, etc. And add everyone to your task during the planning, such as setting the table. Maybe get that for your younger kids or younger adults. Maybe the older ones can wash the dishes, attend to the guests, festive drinks, setting up to Silverware on the table. You can spend that extra time with your guests and maybe watch some TV, hang out, play some board games. And I will share the quick listener survey. It is on my website with the link in today's podcast. But I definitely want to give a shout out to all of the amazing hairstylists, cosmetologists, the barbers that's out there. Your skills are a talent and truly help everyone shine and feel their best. As we dive into the holiday season, let's not forget to show our appreciation to each and every one of them. Maybe a small gift or a token of thanks for your favorite stylist and barber, it can go a long way in spreading some holiday cheer. They work hard to keep us looking fabulous, and let's make their season a little bit brighter. What do you think? How do you plan to show your gratitude with your favorite stylist, Barbara Cosmetologist? So, with this episode, think about planning early. You can reduce your stressors, avoid the last minute scrambling for gifts, reservations, and traveling. I know it can be hard to locate a gift for someone special, but think about doing it early, really reserving your hotel room, not waiting to the last minute, save money. Early booking can mean your flights, your hotels, your venues. You can invest in some gift cards. You can buy those early for your flights because they don't expire, many of them, and maximize your joy. Really thoughtful planning some memorable experiences, make it special for that day. Maybe your favorite color you're wearing, your theme. Tell everyone your theme, and really balance that downtime so you don't get burnt out and keeping your energy high because you want to rest too. So planning isn't about control, it's about creating that freedom to enjoy the moment. So with your annual planning, your holidays, like your New Year's is coming, your Easter, your 4th of July, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will be here before we know it. Social traditions, keep them like your holiday dinners. If you're gonna do a gift exchange, you can do that. Preparation, start doing it about one to two months ahead of time, such as your shopping, your decorating, your meal planning, and maybe invite everyone to your group with the calendar to remind them of their duties for that day. And holiday reminds us that life is bigger than our daily grind. So for your birthdays, your friends, and your families, you can put them on a calendar, maybe gift planning, keeping a running list of gift ideas throughout the year, celebration style, decide who wants to host it if it's going to be a party, a dinner, or a getaway, and look at these gifts and book the venues a couple of months in advance or a minimum of three weeks in advance, which would be great. And every birthday is a proof that we've overcome challenges, we deserve that celebration, and we are so lucky to be here. So your vacations, if you research summer in the months of January and February, you can get some great deals on them. So really budgeting throughout the year for that vacation, maybe assigning a monthly fund for that vacation so you're not stressed out, and submitting some requests early if you can. That would be helpful, and then do some buffer days. The buffer days is like downtime where you're resting and you're really relaxing, maybe read a good book that's out there. So rest is not wasted time, it's just a fuel for your best self. So really think about it. And with the if you think about the art of relaxation, that digital detox, you can do it on vacation, holidays, just limiting your screen time, and you can plan this weekly, maybe adding some board games, some family fun time for maybe an hour or so, just really making sure that you spend time with each other so you're not in overload over your cell phone, and people are not occupied when you're on vacation. With the some tips, can be journaling during this downtime meditation, some nature walks, balancing that high energy celebration, and it's a quiet time, you can get some relaxation time, some breaks in between. Now, with your your digital calendars, you have plenty of them on your cell phones. You can use some you can link to each other, or group text, you can do that where you know the upcoming dates and some family members who might be a little bit lost during this time or having stuff they're overwhelmed. Use that group text or digital calendar and send some reminders. Okay, it's a month before the holidays, so I got to get everything going, look for the decorations, the table setup, different things like that. If you have like different apps, you can have those for your vacation, itineraries, your prep, you can do things like that, and budget for those vacations early in the year. If something is last minute, you don't want to avoid or have that financial strain on yourself when you're planning for your vacation, and make sure everyone is on board during that time and they're looking at their calendars, and make sure you build that downtime for yourself after you truly relax. And some examples of the vacations, your January is your new year, set your goals, book summer vacations. I know you're not thinking about it. February can be you're looking at your Valentine's Day, that's where you know you want to get all of the nice things in Valentine's Day going. You can do that with your March. That's your probably not a major holiday, but you have spring break family activities. April is the coloring for your spring cleaning, Mother's Day is in May, Memorial Day for July is in Independence Day, organize your gathering if you're going to do Labor Day, September, a short trip, October would be your Halloween if you do costumes, and you can clean for the winter time, declutter, wash your winter coats and hats and gloves. Thanksgiving is November, playing your menu and your guest list in December. If you have any other birthdays for that month, or planning for next year and finalize your Christmas and gift traveling. So if you think about the holidays and birthdays and vacations, you can really prepare for these. Every holiday, every birthday, every vacation reminds us this life is meant to be fully surrounded by love and not laughter and renewal. So planning today for your future and say thank you to yourself. Life is meant to be fully live, not brush. By planning the holidays and birthdays and vacations, you create that joy, reflection, and renewal. So start today and mark those calendar days, set those reminders and commit to celebrating life because you can plan for your joy and you can guarantee it. So with my upcoming episode, it is National Twin Day, which is Thursday, December 18th. But did you know that it would be National Twin Day? I didn't know, so I definitely want to share that with you. I'm going to release this episode early so everyone can enjoy it. And remember to share this podcast with five people, encourage them to listen, tag them in the comments, tag me on my social media at Wondra Spencer. Thank you for tuning in to the Motivational Fuel podcast. Remember, when you give, you rise, and when you rise, you inspire others to rise again. Thanks for your time. Have a great day. Stay safe and warm.