Every year, around this time, I feel the energy shift.
Calendars fill up. Expectations stack higher. Somewhere between the grocery lists and glitter, the holidays start running us instead of the other way around.
But before the rush truly begins, there’s a moment — right now — when we get to choose our pace.
Last year, I shared that so many women are the “holiday magic makers,” trying to make everyone’s season bright. This year, I want to add something new: you can’t create magic from a place of depletion.
Through the seventy interviews I did for The Rebalancing Act, one truth kept surfacing — the people who managed life’s busiest seasons didn’t achieve balance. They practiced micro-rebalancing: small, intentional pauses that kept them from burning out.
So before you dive into hosting, decorating, or overcommitting, take five quiet minutes to ask:
Where am I already off balance — and what needs to shift before the season starts?
Maybe it’s fewer “yeses,” earlier nights, or giving yourself permission to simplify.
Whatever it is, this is your moment to rebalance before the rush.
Because balance doesn’t exist. But rebalancing — again and again — is how you create holidays that feel as peaceful as they look.
→ A quick exercise: Write one thing you’ll say “no” to this season — and one thing you’ll say “yes” to that restores you.
Until next time,
Carol Enneking
Author of The Rebalancing Act: Wisdom from Working Women for Success that Matters