By Corinne Yeadon, of the Being Better private therapy practice in Skipton

I CONFESS to being the kind of person that embraces all things jingle bells; I am an unabashed Christmas fairy who loves the festive period, but that doesn’t mean that I am immune to the associated stresses and strains.

With the best will in the world Christmas can feel like a runaway train, a little planning and preparation can help provide a sense of control.

Decluttering is a good place to start, not only of your home but of your mind and responsibilities. Taking a responsive stance avoids lapsing into reactive scatter gun behaviour, which is often more time consuming, less productive and adds to feelings of stress.

For many years I have kept a book listing people and allocating gifts. My level of organisation may seem tragic to some, however I now feel confident that my strategic skillset assisted by my highlighter pen would be an asset to movers and shakers the world over.

Last Christmas I would have given my turkey crown to meet up with loved ones, but there were lessons learned from the enforced scaling back of commitments, which will transfer to this year. I made a conscious decision to support local businesses last year, buying quality, inexpensive gifts and intend doing the same this year.

It’s important to have the Christmas you want, pleasing others only adds to tension and can lead to smatterings of resentment. Where this is not possible, it is worth giving consideration to compromise.

Suggestions to support being Christmas ready:

* Select a minimum of one item per day to donate to charity;

* To-do lists in a book or phone;

* Plan and schedule, use a diary to plan ahead;

* Prioritise according to urgency;

* Timing – allot times and set timeframes;

* Share the load, hand over responsibilities to trusted, capable people.