The long and the short is that this is a wonderful but very stressful time of year for many of us.

It’s autumn right now; the leaves are changing, football is on all day on Sunday, and you finally have an excuse nightmare before christmas costumes to eat as much pumpkin pie as possible! Its also 4th quarter for us workin’ folk, and this is a busy time of year. Our numbers might not be where we originally projected for the year and we have to get everything ready for the busy holiday season ahead and a host of other things.

Oh, and did I mention we have to start Christmas shopping, getting the kids Halloween costumes AND figuring out where we are having Thanksgiving with our family?!? The long and the short is that this is a wonderful but very stressful time of year for many of us. I think that a lot of it has to do with our inability to say ‘no’ in this ‘giving’ time of year. Halloween parties are plentiful, football parties are plentiful, bonfire parties are plentiful-there is no shortage of invites to them all. We as humans try too hard to please everyone, so my challenge to you is to say NO to all invites between now and Christmas day! This is a tall order, I know, but I GUARANTEE you will feel better when you wake up the day of the event that you were invited to and you know you don’t have to go! By the way, I don’t mean turning down your folks when they invite you and yours for Thanksgiving at their house or taking the kids out trick or treating for Halloween; I just mean to say NO to things that aren’t already on the calendar as national holidays! Here’s a little tip that works like a gem.

 When you get one of those email-invites to a party, RSVP with ‘maybe’, that way if you wake up the morning of the event and you feel like going, go right ahead and attend. If you don’t feel like going, no one is going to complain. Instead of stressing about what kind of chips and dip to bring to your buddies football party, take a walk in the park and breathe the fresh, crisp air. Or have your own football party with your family-or better yet, go to the park and PLAY football with your kids and their buddies. Let’s make this 4th quarter a relaxing one instead of the usual ultra-high stress ones of the past! Say ‘NO’ loud and proud, this time of year is busy enough as it is! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a pumpkin pie with my name on it!