00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on Episode 508 of the Inspired Stewardship podcast. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures toe Live out your calling. Having the ability to really find your gifts and calling is a key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this the inspired stewardship podcast by my friend Scott Mater. Wait, Let's face it, people that love you the best are also often the people that can trigger things for you the easiest.
00:00:44 And so sometimes just accepting that and allowing the recognition that you know what? There's going to be stress today. There's gonna be stress and strain around at this time of the life is okay. Acknowledging it welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired storage of podcast. Learn to invest in yourself,
00:01:20 invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the way in today's episode about developing your influence by stewarding your time.
00:01:36 I talked with you about dealing with family and holiday stress. Why you may indeed need to learn to do this and what this could look like for you as we talk about stewarding your time.
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00:01:56 All you have to do is use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon,
00:02:04 and a small commission will come back to support the show just that quick. If you enjoy the show when you are ready to buy from Amazon,
00:02:12 just use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon. For a lot of folks, this time of the year can end up being really stressful.
00:02:23 And it's not just about all of the business of the season. Also, sometimes spending time with friends and family around this time of the year can end up adding stress instead of adding pleasure to your life.
00:02:39 And don't get me wrong. This this could be about the fact that, for instance, you may not have a really deep connection with your family,
00:02:46 or you may not even have anyone left around that you can visit and spend time with. And so there may be grief going on.
00:02:54 It also could just be, you know, the dysfunctionality that we see around this time of the year when we spend time with our our family and our friends.
00:03:02 And keep in mind when I say family, I'm not just talking about biological connections, but also the family that you've chosen to allow into your life.
00:03:12 Both of these are important connections to family. And so when you spend time with your family around this time of the year,
00:03:21 you know, I think most of us recognize that there's going to be a conversation or two that perhaps is going to be difficult.
00:03:29 There's gonna be a trigger or two that your family manages toe a hit or a button that somebody manages to press that causes a little bit of stress and strain.
00:03:40 And so I think it's important that we talk a little bit about dealing with that family stress. You know,
00:03:47 the truth is, I think One thing that that has happened over the years is I've just learned to to accept the fact that there's going to be some stress that the family is sometimes going to hit the button for each other in a way that no one else can cause.
00:04:04 Let's face it, the people that love you, the best are also often the people that can trigger things for you,
00:04:10 the easiest. And so sometimes just accepting that and allowing the recognition that you know what, There's going to be stress today.
00:04:21 There's gonna be stress and strain around at this time of the life is okay. Acknowledging it and making a plan for it ahead of time begins toe let you learn to deal with it.
00:04:34 So sometimes that plan may involve setting some limits, setting some boundaries, setting some time limits where you say I am gonna go spend time with this particular family member.
00:04:45 But maybe it's only gonna be an hour or 30 minutes or four hours or half a day or day,
00:04:51 whatever it is, and you make sure you've got control over the ability toe leave, you let them know ahead of time that you've got another commitment.
00:05:00 You've got something else that you're going to do than recognizes as well. The fact that when you have stress around your family,
00:05:10 often times, it's because you've given them control over something because you've allowed their opinion or their statement about you toe show you who you are and you've given up that control.
00:05:30 Remember, you have a choice. You have a choice in how you respond to what people say about you or think about you.
00:05:39 And even though their family and their people that you love and you respect, you can choose to ignore that opinion.
00:05:47 You can choose to take back control by not accepting the feedback. But don't get me wrong. I'm not saying start an argument.
00:05:56 You just kind of begin to have what I call the bobblehead technique, where you smile and nod and slowly just listen and let them say whatever it is they want to say.
00:06:10 But don't buy into it, don't accept it. And then the last one, the one I like the best is Tau actually begin to separate yourself from the events to begin to look at the events as an observer.
00:06:27 Somebody who's studying this family almost as a scientist are perhaps somebody who's looking for comedy material for the next stand up routine or who's observing and looking to see what are the triggers.
00:06:40 What are the things that are going on in this family? Almost like you're an anthropologist studying another group,
00:06:49 not your own family but someone else's. And by having that step back and taking some separation, sometimes all of a sudden the emotion begins to get diffused,
00:07:00 and you can enjoy the moment in a very different way. Now, if there's no stress and strain in your family,
00:07:07 if everything runs perfectly that just enjoy the day and spend time with them and love on them. But if there is some stress and strain,
00:07:16 try one of these quick techniques and tips this year and see if it helps. You were lower down the stress level so that you can be present and enjoy the time with the family.
00:07:30 And I hope you enjoy this Christmas Day and we'll be talking to you more as we come into the new year.
00:07:36 I'm looking forward to producing another year of content starting next year. Enjoy your time and thanks for listening thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast.
00:07:54 As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way toe.
00:08:04 Live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of time, be sure to sign up for our stewardship of time tips.
00:08:13 Siri's by going to inspired stewardship dot com slash time or texting. 44222 time tips and that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time investor time,
00:08:35 your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world.