7 Ways to Make This Thanksgiving Creative and Productive

Is it possible to make this Thanksgiving creative?

It might not be easy.

First, there’s all that food. Indulge too much and you could feel poofy and lethargic—definitely not in the mood to write after dinner.

Then there are the family gatherings. If you’re scheduled to attend, there may be conflict, which can send a writer’s creative nature hiding under the couch.

What about time? You’re likely to get a vacation day or two, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to set any aside to write.

Fortunately, by planning a few things in advance, you can increase your odds of not only enjoying the holiday, but making it a productive one, too.

What About Just Taking the Time Off?

Why talk about making Thanksgiving productive when it’s a holiday? Shouldn’t you just forget about writing and take the time off?

Absolutely you should—if you want to. If you’ve been killing it at your deadlines and you just want to eat and veg, go for it wholeheartedly and enjoy.

The trouble is that for many writers, a holiday offers that golden chance to get a little writing done. Particularly if you’re working a day job or caring for a family, a holiday may offer you the rare opportunity to spend a few hours as you like, without having leap into action whenever someone else needs you.

If that sounds like you, the following tips will help. Keep in mind that even if you plan to take all four days off of writing, these suggestions can still improve your energy and mindset so you’re revved and ready to return when the holiday is over. And who knows? You may just find yourself motivated to steal away and write when it was the last thing you planned to do.

7 Ways to Make This Thanksgiving Creative and Productive

1. Get more food…later.

One of the biggest problems with the holidays is we eat too much. Thanksgiving is especially difficult because it’s all about gathering together around a heaping table of food, and boy, the temptations are hard to resist.

First, a note—if you eat too much, it’s not the end of the world, and in many ways, it can be enjoyable if you do it only once in awhile. The problem is it usually doesn’t leave you feeling good. It tastes great going down, but then it sits there, and you know how uncomfortable that can be.

Worse, eating too much can cause a cascade of negative effects in your body and brain that leave you unable to write, create, or even think about a new idea.

• One recent study showed that a big meal caused heart attack risk to jump four times in two hours.
• A big meal, especially if it’s rich in fat and sugar (like many Thanksgiving meals are), leads to a crash in energy—thus the family sprawl in the living room after it’s over.
• Large meals make for sluggish blood vessels, which is likely to slow your thinking. Forget being able to create that cool new scene.
• A large meal can also stress you out—the body responds to the influx of food by releasing a stress hormone that raises blood pressure.
• Fatty blood is another result of a large meal—levels of triglycerides increase and remain elevated for hours.

Of course, it’s hard to avoid overeating on a holiday that’s all about food, so here’s a trick to try: stop before you get full, and tell yourself you’ll have more, but not quite yet.

Then give yourself just 20 minutes. This works in a couple ways. First, it takes at least 20 minutes for your brain to register that you’re full, so taking that break gives you a chance to realize how full you really are.

Second, even after an overly large meal, your brain is still likely to convince you that you’re hungry at your normal meal times. It’s a force of habit. So if you stop before you’re full and promise yourself more later, you can eat that “more” at your regular mealtime and lower your chance of overeating for the day.

Outcome: You’ll have a more balanced approach to your food intake over the holiday, which will give you more energy to write.

Thanksgiving Creative Idea 2. Ask yourself, “Do I really have to ______?”

Holidays are all about traditions, but if those traditions are robbing you of precious hours you’d rather spend writing, it’s time to question them.

Do you really have to host the dinner at your house this year? Do you really have to attend every friend’s get-together? Does every day need to be a family day, or can you take even a half-day away for your writing?

You may think you’re locked into the routine you’ve always followed, but this year, try to change just one thing. Even a small change can lead to bigger ones that help free up some of that time you’d like to use for writing.

Outcome: You’ll feel less pressure to fill your days with to-dos and more freedom to use your time to create.

3. Engage in short bursts of exercise.

Exercise is not only good for your body—it’s good for your creative brain, too. It gets your blood pumping and sharpens your thinking, helping you focus for hours afterwards.

But exercise can be tough to do over the holidays. Changing schedules, guests in the house, and unusual eating times can all interfere with your regular workout.

Focus instead on short bursts of exercise you can do in 10 minutes or less. These can be just as effective over the short-term as your regular full-on workouts, and are certainly a lot better than not exercising at all.

Some options:

• A couple sets of 30 or more jumping jacks.
• A couple sets of 20 or more push-ups.
• A few trips up and down the nearest staircase.
• Several sets of 35-50 jumps with a jump rope.
• A quick jog around the block.
• 10 minutes of vigorous dancing (to your favorite tune).

Outcome: Keeping movement in your day gives you the energy and focus you need to manage all your holiday visits as well as your writing.

Thanksgiving Creative Idea 4. Learn how to vanish for 30 minutes.

How much time do you really need to get in some writing? For most writers, 30 minutes will do the trick, so before the holidays arrive, plan your get-aways.

Decide you’ll do a run to the grocery store, and stop for half an hour to write on your way back. Disappear after everyone is done eating and write in the back yard—since most of the family will be resting, they likely won’t notice. While the food is cooking, beg some time off to clean up and spend the time writing, instead.

Thirty minutes is long enough to write, but not long enough for people to worry too much about your absence. Disappear a few times a day and you’re likely to finish that chapter you wanted to get done.

Outcome: Disappearing without explanation can be exciting—you may feel like you’ve just skipped school or called in sick for work when you were feeling fine. That excitement is likely to transfer into good energy for writing.

Thanksgiving Creative Idea 5. Keep an old-fashioned diary for four days.

When was the last time you kept a diary? If you know there’s no way you’ll be able to write over Thanksgiving, try returning to journaling instead.

Take just ten to 20 minutes to record your thoughts at the end of the day before you go to sleep.

You can encourage yourself to follow through by purchasing a new diary before the holidays start. Then keep it by your bed to remind yourself to use it each night. Record whatever you remember about the food, the people, the interactions, the tensions, the atmosphere, and more.

Bring your writing talents to the task. You never know what new ideas your journaling practice will inspire.

Outcome: You’ll keep your writing muscles strong over the holiday, and won’t have to “recover” to get started again. You may even come away with an entirely new project to pursue.

Thanksgiving Creative Idea 6. Use your camera to promote creativity.

You may not be able to find much time to write over the Thanksgiving holiday, but everyone has time to take pictures.

And photography can help increase your creativity, just by giving you another way of looking at things.

“Photography and drawing are deeply creative activities,” says bestselling author Deep Patel in Forbes. “The ability to accurately produce or frame representations of what you see can change the way you view the world.”

Try going overboard with the pictures. Snap the food, the people, the table, the setting, the pets, whatever catches your fancy. Try different angles, sizes, and points of view. At the end of the day, import all your shots into your photo program and take 20 minutes to see what you see.

What ideas occur to you? Do you see a theme emerging from the pictures? Did you capture something you didn’t expect, an expression or a collection that gets you thinking of a story?

If you’re struggling with a project you’re working on now, see if you can find an answer in the photos. Do they reveal something you hadn’t considered? Is there a character or setting detail that opens a new lane of thought?

Keep snapping over the four-day period and see what you find. If nothing else, you’ll have some memories to share with your loved ones.

Outcome: You’ll give yourself a new way to look at things, which can shake up your thinking and give you just what you need to break through writer’s block.

Thanksgiving Creative Idea 7. Create limits.

As Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, said: “In limits, there is freedom. Creativity thrives within structure.”

The best way to encourage creativity over the holidays is to set limits wherever you can.

Decide to participate in only one or two family/friend gatherings. Spend only three of the four days engaging in holiday activities, granting yourself the last day. Be home by a certain time each night on three of the four days.

Whatever limits work for you, the important thing is to set them and stick with them.

Outcome: You’ll feel less stressed out and more able to relax over the holiday, which in turn, helps encourage creativity. Remember: stress kills creativity every time! (Read more about that in our post, “How to Keep Stress from Destroying Your Creativity.”)

How do you maintain productivity and creativity over the Thanksgiving holiday?

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Sources:
Patel, D. (2017, August 1). 6 Proven Ways To Increase Your Creativity. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/07/30/6-proven-ways-to-increase-your-creativity/#63d822ef4295

Richwine, L. (2006, January 6). Heavy Meals May Trigger Heart Attacks. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117825&page=1