We’re here, folks! Thanksgiving week is upon us. As I’ve talked with people about their holiday plans, I’ve heard a wide range of responses. Some are feeling completely stressed, while others are pretty relaxed. Are you at one extreme or somewhere in between?

The differences in how people are feeling revolve around things like . . .

• Are they hosting or being a guest?

• Are you bringing part of the meal to the host’s home?

• Will you be cooking, catering, or dining out instead?

• How many people will be at the event?

• Are you feeling organized enough or completely disorganized?

• Are you concerned about family dynamics or drama?

• How much traveling is involved?

• Is your Thanksgiving tradition the same, or will it be different this year?

• Are too many non-holiday things happening in your life right now?

• Are you missing loved ones who are unable to be with you?

• What? Thanksgiving is this week?

Which questions resonate with you? How are they influencing your approach and attitude about the holidays?

EASE: Embrace, Arrange, Savor, Express

I created a short acronym, EASE, to help you enjoy Thanksgiving more. This simple phrase works for everyone but is especially useful if you feel stressed or overwhelmed by this holiday or upcoming ones.

Breathe in EASE as you focus on engaging each idea.

• Embrace imperfection and unpredictability.

• Arrange simple, meaningful gatherings.

• Savor the flavors, conversations, and moments.

• Express gratitude for those things, big and small.

1. Embrace imperfection and unpredictability.

Embrace melds two ideas: Let go of perfection and acknowledge that life, let alone holiday gatherings, can be unpredictable. Focus on ‘good enough’ to soften perfectionistic tendencies. In addition, I remind myself of the many kooky things that happened at past Thanksgivings. We’re talking turkey catching on fire, EMS rescuing a guest who passed out, and almost pouring all of the gravy (that took days to make) down the kitchen drain.

While unpredictability might result in initial panic followed by quick action, the memories can evolve into fun and memorable Thanksgiving lore.

2. Arrange simple, meaningful gatherings.

Arrange encourages you to entertain in a meaningful and doable way. So, if cooking isn’t your thing, think about ways to make this aspect easier. Maybe it means letting someone else host, and you bring wine or dessert. Perhaps it means hosting but buying pre-made foods. Or maybe you’re going all out with hosting but simplifying the number of dishes you make.

More than what dishes you serve, the time spent together makes the holidays meaningful.

“Focus on ‘good enough’ to soften perfectionistic tendencies.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

3. Savor the flavors, conversations, and moments.

To savor means thoroughly enjoying and appreciating something, especially by lingering on its lovely qualities. There are so many opportunities to savor on Thanksgiving. I love the scents and tastes of this holiday. I can’t wait to bite into a section of a juicy pomegranate with its garnet-colored tart and sweet seeds, smell the hot apple cider simmering on the stove, or hug and talk with my loved ones.

A mindful presence will bring ease as it helps you engage more deeply with foods, people, and moments of connection and love.

4. Express gratitude for those things, big and small.

Being intentional about what you’re grateful for profoundly benefits your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. For example, gratitude is a natural stress reducer, fosters resilience, strengthens relationships, encourages kindness, improves sleep, boosts self-esteem, reduces negativity, and cultivates mindfulness.

While gratitude is often associated with and promoted more during the holiday season, expressing gratitude is a practice and awareness that can be integrated into every day.

Acknowledging even one thing you are grateful for will bring you more ease.

Human-Centered Thanksgiving

Approaching the holidays with EASE will help you focus on what’s most important and let go of what isn’t. You’ll feel less stressed, more joyful, and calmer. What can you do to infuse more ease into your holidays? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help decluttering, organizing, brainstorming, or planning? Have you experienced the benefits of having an accountability partner? I’m here for you. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – A local feel with a global reach.

Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Organization and ease are possible, especially with support.

Do you feel more stressed during the holiday season? What is the source? Holiday-related stress might revolve around travel planning, gift-giving, card-writing, decorating, over-committing, or entertaining.

As someone who enjoys and has hosted many gatherings, I continually work on reducing stress. Experience helps. The more I do something, the easier and less stressful it becomes, and the better I am at planning and navigating surprises. However, a more significant aspect is mindset. If I keep telling myself how stressed I am, what happens? I reinforce that feeling.

What is Scruffy Hospitality?

Recently, I heard about “scruffy hospitality,” which is a more relaxed approach to entertaining. It’s a practice and also a mindset. The idea is to prioritize connection and conversation over obsession with creating picture-perfect environments and Instagram-worthy meals. The concept includes having people over without cleaning up first and approaching food more simply. Instead of making elaborate dishes, ‘scruffy’ entertaining loves potlucks, leftovers, and takeout.

While “scruffy hospitality” was coined a decade ago by Jack King, an Anglican priest from Tennessee, it has received more attention in the last few years. It rejects unrealistic social media standards that create pressure on us to be “perfect hosts.” Scruffy hospitality is a nod to embracing imperfection and authenticity. These involve letting go.

For this holiday season, especially if you’re stressed, I encourage you to incorporate some ‘scruffy’ into your life. It will look different for each person. Consider how beneficial scruffy hospitality could be for reducing your stress.

As a seasoned host, ‘scruffy’ isn’t a term I naturally associate with entertaining. I like to clean and prepare. Don’t get me started on my to-do lists. I enjoy the visual aspect of decorating the tables, arranging flowers, and creating colorfully plated dishes. Those aspects aren’t stressful for me. However, those and other aspects of entertaining might be stressful for you. And if it is, some of the suggestions below can help.

11 Ways to Reduce Holiday Stress by Embracing Scruffy Hospitality

• Reframe Clean – Do a quick clean instead of a deep one. Or hire someone else to clean.
  

• Organize Less – Declutter the dining room only, leaving all other areas in their ‘as is’ state.

• Recruit Help – Ask guests to bring parts of the meal.

• Minimize Decor – There is no need to go wild. A single plant, a small vase of flowers, a bowl of fruit, or an arrangement of gourds is a minimalist way to decorate a table. You can also leave things bare.

• Be Present – Cook with your guests instead of preparing things in advance.
  

• Try Self-Serve – Set up your food buffet-style rather than as a plated, sit-down meal.

• Don’t Cook – Forget about cooking anything. Purchase the entire meal or a few dishes.
  

• Do Less - Simplify your menu with fewer choices or prepare dishes requiring minimal ingredients.
  

• Dress Down – Be comfortable and show up as you are. No fancy clothes are required.
  

• Reduce Scope – Fewer guests can make the gathering more manageable. Dial down your invite list to reflect your ideal number of guests.

• Simplify Gift Giving – Focus on clutter-less gifts for you and the recipients. Give meaningful time-centered gifts like movie tickets, museum passes, or personal care services.

“Scruffy hospitality is a nod to embracing imperfection and authenticity.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

How I’m Incorporating Scruffy Hospitality This Season

One thing I decided to do differently this year is not to bake the apple and pumpkin pies. Instead, our daughter generously offered to make pies. While I’ve always baked, removing the pie-baking task frees up some time and reduces stress around coordinating kitchen usage with my husband. We share cooking for Thanksgiving and work around each other’s schedules and tasks. No pie baking this year means I’ll eliminate the stress of negotiating for counter, oven, and refrigerator space.

The other area where ‘scruffy’ applies is the number of guests. We love having a houseful of family and friends for the holidays. However, some guests have health issues or scheduling conflicts this year. While we’ll miss them greatly on Thanksgiving, fewer guests give me more time to talk with people. Managing the flow of the space is less stressful with fewer people, too.

Human-Considered Holidays

The holidays don’t have to be stressful. There are many ways to increase joy and minimize stress. How can you relax your approach to holiday hospitality? What will help you make it more joy-filled and less stressful? I’d love to hear your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help decluttering, organizing, brainstorming, or planning? Do you need an accountability partner? I’m here for you. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward - A local feel with a global reach.

Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Organization and ease are possible, especially with support.

Are you feeling the fast whoosh of time passing with the holiday season arriving, the elections looming, and the year ending? It’s a lot to take in. You may feel overwhelmed. Perhaps you’re thinking about what goals you wanted to accomplish this year, the time left to do it, and what is actually possible.

Maybe your thoughts are occupied with ‘regular’ life maintenance to-dos plus hundreds of holiday-related tasks, including gift shopping, holiday meal prepping, guestroom readying, travel planning, and family and friends’ gatherings.

Breathe. You’re human, and you’re juggling many things.

I often say that life is in the joyful doing and presence of the moment. And while that’s all well and good, when you’re stressed and overwhelmed, accessing that presence can be more challenging.

With so much going on with work and family, externally and internally, this time of year, making tiny adjustments is helpful. Infusing compassion and mindfulness into your thoughts and actions will encourage a more joyful, fulfilling, and happier holiday season.

I offer you a thought, question, and strategy to help.

3 Ways to Prepare for a Compassionate Holiday Season

1. One Thought: “We don’t have to be perfect.”

Let’s remove the idea of perfection from the holiday season. Why impose more pressure, stress, or unrealistic expectations on yourself or others?

Try channeling your perfectionism energy differently. Focus your energy on one of these options instead:

• Excellence

• Personal best

• Good enough

• Progress

• Ease

• Done

As the Noom app said about overcoming thought distortions, “…it’s about recognizing that we don’t have to be perfect. We’re human.”

Which reframe of perfectionism (one suggested or something else) is helpful for you?

“Breathe. You’re human, and you’re juggling many things.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

2. One Question: “Am I putting myself in good positions and creating the conditions for success?”

One of my favorite recent discoveries is James Clear’s weekly 3-2-1 email, which my client told me about. The idea he wrote about last month feels relevant and worth sharing.

Clear wrote, “Forget about the outcome and focus on what precedes it.” He asks, “Am I putting myself in good positions and creating the conditions for success?”

Consider Clear’s question in the context of which actions and thoughts you can focus on to create a joyful, compassion-filled holiday season. They might include:

• Planning

• Lowering your expectations

• Creating boundaries

• Simplifying goals and tasks

• Decluttering

• Scheduling rest and renewal time

What will you choose to focus on to create a positive holiday season?

“We don’t have to be perfect.”

— James Clear

3. One Strategy: “Accept help.”

Do you tend to do everything yourself? Perhaps you don’t want to impose on others. Or, Seth Godin suggests you might think, “Doing the tasks is more efficient than coordinating the help.” Either philosophy results in you doing all the work, which can lead to resentment and exhaustion. Neither of those is a recipe for happy holidays.

Whatever the season, enlisting and accepting help improves your life. We’re human and benefit from the support and interactions with others. What type of help will benefit your life and infuse more ease? Who can you ask for help? How will that change your experience? If you’re having guests over and they offer to help, lean in and say “Yes.” Have tasks ready to delegate. It will make them feel comfortable and reduce pressure from your list.

Godin says, “It’s much more productive to accept help. When we have a project, part of the work is to enlist others in figuring out how to make the change we seek.”

Let me know if you’re stressed and need a thought partner, decluttering and organizing guide, planning help, or accountability buddy. In my virtual organizing sessions, I offer one-hour focused sessions, ongoing support, and personalized guidance to help you with your goals and challenges. I’m available and am ready to help.

Human Holiday

Do you know the 1953 movie Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck? This season, I encourage you to embody a Human Holiday.

• Let go of what you can.

• Invite in what you want.

• Enlist the help you need.

For a less stressful and happier holiday season and beyond, I’m here to help. Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Organization and ease are possible, especially with support.

What do tea bags, Elfa drawers, and virtual organizing have in common? The tea bags represent what needs organizing. The Elfa drawers embody an organizing solution. Virtual organizing is the bridge that transports you from where you are to where you want to be.

One benefit of the ‘bridge’ (virtual organizing) is the traveling-the-road aspect. In the time it takes to move from one place to another, you get to:

• Rethink what’s working and what isn’t

• Clarify your goal

• Open your mind to alternate solutions

• Think creatively

• Discover alternate possibilities

• Identify what’s holding you back

• Mentally prepare to take action

• Brainstorm with a professional who is 100% focused on your success

In essence, virtual organizing affords you the time and space to think through your organizational challenges and solutions. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong about diving into the action piece. However, designating time to discuss, reflect, and clarify can enrich and empower your organizing outcomes.

Virtual Organizing Benefits in Real Life (IRL)

For example, a client might need one or more sessions to discuss their challenges with letting go of sentimental or aspirational clothing. It’s valuable to tease out the thought patterns and potential obstacles. They take time to consider and sit with those ideas before taking action.

Sometimes, they move forward on their own. Yet, often, they find it helpful to devote some virtual organizing sessions to work with me on active editing, decision-making, and letting go. That means we’re not only talking about it, but they are doing the physical work as I support them through the process.

Releasing Stuck Energy

I’ve observed something fascinating for myself and my clients. When you begin editing, letting go, and clearing a space, it creates a path for new solutions and ideas. When things remain status quo, the energy in a space and your thinking can get stuck. But once you stir the pot, incredible changes happen.

“Virtual organizing is the bridge that transports you from where you are to where you want to be.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

An Unexpected Project Outcome

One of the recent projects I’ve been working on is redoing our guest bedroom, which was our daughters’ bedroom. Renovating it has been on my ‘want to do’ list for many years. Finally, its time arrived. I will share more about that exciting transformation in the coming weeks.

However, for now, I’ll tell you about an unexpected outcome. One of the unanticipated side benefits came when we emptied the room to prepare for painting it. I removed the small Elfa drawer unit and temporarily placed it in the pantry. I wasn’t sure if we’d put it back into the bedroom post-renovation. After a few days of observing the cabinet in this other location, I decided to make it pantry-worthy.

I removed the games and playing cards and repurposed the cabinet for tea, spices, and food-related items. I also found these fabulous Container Store Elfa drawer dividers, which keep the items in the drawers organized and in place. It makes me giggle whenever I open the drawer and see those dividers. I love the reimagined cabinet!

If I hadn’t been willing to disrupt one space, I might not have improved another. Like my clients, I gave myself time and the opportunity to think through my organizing systems, get creative, and try something new.

Disrupting a space has value, as does having a thought and accountability partner to help you navigate to the other side of the bridge.

Virtual Organizing is an Empowering Path

What have you disrupted lately? What benefit have you received from your virtual organizing sessions? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

Do you want help getting unstuck, planning, or creating new organizing systems? If so, I’m ready to help. Please email me at linda@ohsorganized.com, call 914-271-5673, or schedule a Discovery Call. Moving forward is possible, especially with support.