- Dec 1, 2016

Winter Blues: How to Stay Motivated in December

With the Thanksgiving holiday and first massive shopping-weekend extravaganza behind us, we can’t be the only ones who are counting down the days until Christmas and New Years’, when we finally get another short break to enjoy the season and festivities with friends and family again.

These few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be the least productive during the year, since many consider it a period of winding down and hibernating. Corporate work tends to be on the slower side, while the retail business kicks it into high gear to accommodate the yearly shopping everyone does in the month of December.

However, with so much holiday cheer, decorations all around us, and Starbucks’ red cups being sipped by every other person in NYC, it’s hard not to get a bit distracted and unmotivated once we eat the last of our leftover turkey. To help you get over that slump and set yourself up for productivity and success for the new year, we have some of our best tips and tricks for staying motivated and positive this month to end the year on a high note!

1. Plan a Vacation - Nothing is more exciting for us than stalking some of our favorite travel bloggers' Instagrams and planning out our next upcoming vacation. (FYI, taramilktea, tuulavintage, and gypsealust are our current favorite travel bloggers). To be honest, we have major wanderlust 100% of the time that we are not traveling and it has been a few months since our last trip (be sure to check out our France travel diaries here). Since we are new to the employment world, the past few months have been a little stressful with getting acclimated to corporate life and transitioning into full-blown adulthood, so a little TLC is well deserved. With work being a little less busy now that we are nearing the end of the year, it is a great time to start planning our next trip to get us pumped for 2017. Sometimes, we feel, especially around this time of year, that life can be a bit mundane with our same old, regular routine day in and day out. Planning a trip is a great way to not only shake things up, but also bring some much needed excitement into our lives.

2. Meet new people - Graduating, intense traveling, and starting new jobs all happened at once for us in 2016, and with all of these changes, our daily routines also took quite a turn. When we both started working, we were a bit nervous just like we were when we started a new school year in middle school, high school, and college. We definitely fell victim to the first day jitters again because we were concerned about finding the perfect friend group and fitting in with our new teams. Over the last couple of months, we've met countless new people, many who have become part of our new every day lives. It's amazing how everything seems to naturally fall into place, although it does require time and effort, and a lot of socializing.

We actually met Joan just this past month and connected since we all live around the area and have a passion for blogging. She has a love for photography and has been working with bloggers and models for quite a few years now. We were so excited to work on a few blog post collaborations together. She also shot one of our favorite looks of all time, which will be launched next week just in time for the start of the holiday month. We can't wait to share that soon. Check out some of Joan's amazing work and follow her social media pages because she's awesome!

Personal

Blog: www.swaagcaat.com

Instagram: @swaagcaat

Photography

Website: http://www.joan-michel.com/

Instagram: @joanmichel

3. Review last year's new year resolution list - Most of us have probably forgotten that we even had resolutions for the year after the first few weeks of January, and it's all too real that we abandon these goals before we really even try to reach them.

However, writing down your goals and actively referring back to them will help you actually achieve them instead of falling short. If you did happen to write them down, or make a video (like us) about what you hoped to achieve in 2016, go revisit that list and see how close you are to checking them off. See what you can do in the remainder of the month so you can inch closer to that end goal. Similarly, write down what you want to accomplish before the start of 2017, and give yourself a 30 day time line to make it all happen. Better yet, find a friend or group of friends to do them with you and help hold each other accountable.

4. Start your morning off right - With the unfortunate dreary and rainy weather, NYC has been suffering through a lot these past few days (seriously, we are so jealous of all you west coasters out there), and motivation and productivity is definitely something we have been struggling with this past week. That being said, we believe that starting the morning off of a high note will put you in a good mood and will give yourself the best chance to have a productive day! Do something in the morning before work or class that you enjoy, whether it be working out, meditating, etc., so that you have something immediate to look forward to when you roll out of bed.

[Mel]: A good friend of mine actually wakes up a little earlier every morning just to cook herself her favorite breakfast: 2 poached eggs with avocado toast, smoked salmon and capers on the side. This may be a little fancier than your average bowl of cereal on the run, but her breakfast is something that brings her a dose of happiness and helps start her day off on the right foot.

[Jess]: One of my favorite things in life is a cup of coffee or tea, and I love exploring new local hot spots in the city. A few days out of the week, I try to grab a cup before or after work, and it's something that cheers me up and gets the day rolling faster because I either have a morning dose of happiness or a motivating thing to keep me going.

5. Find a new hobby/project - One of the best ways to feel motivated and energetic is to be excited to work on something new! Since it is pretty much impossible to change your job every few months, changing up your hobbies is great if you feel like you're stuck in a rut. For those out there who may not have the most interesting/exhilarating of all jobs, the best way to bring some excitement to your life is to start a new hobby that you enjoy. Whether that be painting, yoga, or maybe even blogging about your personal interests, you will feel a little more inspired during the day and hopefully will be able to carry over the motivation to your work/school life as well.

How do you stay motivated? Leave us a comment below!

Love Always,

Jessica & Melissa Photographer: Joseph Rivera