Navigating Work Boundaries Around the Holidays

No doubt about it — as wonderful as they are, the holidays are stressful. It’s a time of year when all the different dynamics of our lives seem to become amplified — and they all converge on one another. It can be difficult to navigate our relationships with our families, meet holiday travel and gift expectations, and manage the pressure of the year-end at work. It’s hard to know which way is up and how to prioritize our own needs at this time of year.

Just remember: the key to navigating boundaries with work around the holidays is knowing what you want to get out of the holidays. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are the holidays important to you? Why?
• What does an ideal holiday look like to you?

Regardless of whether you’re in management or not at your workplace, remember that the holidays are a challenging time for everyone, even if it’s for good reason. It’s in the middle of flu season, people are going to events in cold weather, they’re visiting lots of family and friends — people are going to get sick! In addition, they’re just not going to have as much bandwidth in their lives because of all their other obligations. If you’re a manager, try to plan for this — anticipate scheduling fewer projects around the holidays, because people don’t have the same capacity. If you’re not in…