Lisa Mayoh: Why I am swapping Christmas chaos for the joy of slow motion living

Embrace saying no to holiday commitments this Christmas, choosing family time and rest over social obligations, writes a Lisa Mayoh feeling burnt out from another demanding year.

We all work too hard not to rest when we need it. Doing more, because we think we should be, just adds to the stress of the everyday we don’t need. Picture: iStock

It’s December. Summer is here and the days are heating up as we barrel towards Christmas with the festive season in full swing. But this year feels a little different. I’m saying no to more than I normally would, and saying yes to things that make me happy, not drained. Is that called growing up? Whatever it is, I’m here for it.

Yes, I want to see my best friends in the whole wide world and have the long, lazy Christmas lunch we dream of all year. Yes, I want to go to Christmas Eve mass with my brother and my mum, and drive home 20 minutes out of the way via the Christmas lights that make us feel like Santa’s coming. Yes, I want to see the cousins and aunts and uncles that crowd our festive feast and, yes, I want to wake up to icing sugar footprints on the stairs courtesy of our old mate Saint Nick.

But that’s pretty much where the yeses stop.

Yes, I want to go to Christmas Eve mass with my brother and my mum. Picture: Nikki Short

No, I don’t want to go to Year 4 end of year picnic in the park or the overpriced dinner at the too-loud, too-far restaurant with people I barely know. No, I don’t want to think about ordering the Christmas prawns a month before we need them and, no, I don’t want to try to think of fun and guilt-free ways to occupy children who are now officially on holidays for the next eight weeks.

No, I don’t want to think about ordering the Christmas prawns a month before we need them. Picture: John Appleyard

And word on the street is a lot of people are feeling the same. Crawling to the finish line of another huge year and craving the January reprieve. But when we try and fit too much in to our holidays, you end up starting February with all the vigour of wet, sandy beach towels that were left in the hot car for too long.

So these hols, we’re staying put. No bag packing, no plan making – I want to see the people I want to see without a 10m-long WhatsApp chain of dates chosen by poll after depressing poll. I want to visit a new stretch of beach every day. I want to lie on the couch with the dogs and watch a movie without feeling like we should be doing … something.

We all work too hard not to rest when we need it. Doing more, because we think we should be, just adds to the stress of the everyday we don’t need. Like the alarm clock. No buzzing, no beeping, no tick, tick ticking allowed. Good vibes only.

So let January morph from December’s Fear of Missing Out and spring past the Joy of Missing Out to the awaited pace of SLOMO – living in slow motion. I’m determined to drag that with me into 2026 so we don’t suffer the same burnout of over-committing we do, year after year.

The kids need it, too – maybe even more than us, actually, after 12 months of homework and growing and after-school sports and before-school trainings that lead one week racing to the next.

We’re gonna take it slow this time. And I, for one, can’t possibly wait. Or maybe I can. Does anyone have the time? My watch is in hibernation, too.

Originally published as Lisa Mayoh: Why I am swapping Christmas chaos for the joy of slow motion living