I am part of the launch team for the new book Say Goodbye To Survival Mode by Crystal Paine from Money Saving Moms. Say Goodbye To Survival Mode is a book written for the modern woman who is doing it all and as a result finds herself in survival mode. Crystal offers suggestions to help you stress less, sleep more, and restore your passion for life.

One of the things Chrystal offers as part of the book launch is a 7 Day Challenge where you take small steps to begin to go from survival to thriving.  I did take the challenge and plan to blog my way through this week.

The first challenge is  LEARN TO SAY NO! That is harder than it sounds. As women, we are pulled in so many directions. Our husband needs us. Our kids need us. There are too many volunteer holes at church. The holidays are upon us and we have programs, parties, gifts to buy and the list goes on and on. We want to do it all. We are superwomen and we should be able to do it all, yet we can’t.

Today’s challenge is to:
Sit down somewhere quiet and compose a to-do list for tomorrow. Include everything on your plate, from the moment you wake up until you go to bed. When you’re finished, force yourself to immediately eliminate three items from your list. Just cross them out.  No guilt, just take something off the list.  

I didn’t follow the challenge exactly as written.  This is how I interpreted it.   I have some life goals and I have purposed in my heart that I won’t do anything that does not help me fulfill those goals. So at this season in life, I  said no to buying extra Christmas gifts. My husband and I would like to retire someday and we have purposed to pay off some lingering bills and to save for retirement.  I also said no to helping with the children’s Christmas program at church. The practices were not convenient and I decided not to do it. I love working with children and I love children’s programs, but I said no this time. Maybe next year, we’ll see. I am also scaling back on holiday cooking. Usually I cook enough food to feed the entire neighborhood during the holidays but not this year. I am trying to lose weight and will cook a few goodies but I have no intention of overdoing.

Are you up for the challenge? How do you plan to say no? For those of you who say yes to everything, try it! Say no to three things on your to do list that  you feel you should do and yes to the things you need to do. Is there something on the list that you can put off until tomorrow?   If you are going through a difficult time, scale back on everything but the essential. The difficult time will pass and you may be able to take on the extra tasks in the future.

To receive Crystal’s emails and to take the challenge,  go to

http://www.moneysaving mom.com/survival-mode/

Let me know if you how you are saying no during the holiday season.