Can Cheer Moms Thrive in the Holiday Season?
Let’s be real—the holiday season is already chaos, but throw the official start to All Star cheer competition season into the mix (which overlaps with High School Cheer State and Nationals season for some of us), and suddenly you’re juggling practice schedules, competition weekends, and holiday traditions like you’re managing the chaos on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange—except with more hairspray and fewer bonuses.
So, how do you keep it all together without losing your mind? Here’s what you actually need to know:
Throw the Idea of ‘Keeping it All Together’ Out the Window
Repeat after me: “Keeping it all together is a lie from Satan’s butt crack.” I’m serious. NO ONE has it all together. Not even the mom with the perfect hair, and the clean car, and the polite kids, and no underwear line or *ahem* lumps of cellulite under her expensive leggings like the rest of us.
Perfect doesn’t exist. Having it all together doesn’t exist - especially during the holiday season.
Decide What’s MOST important
Commercials, society, friends, and even cheer coaches will try to convince you that what they need from you - your dollars, your time, your attention - is the most important thing. Your ‘To Do’ list might also feel like the most important thing. During this time of year, EVERYTHING feels urgent and important.
I’ve never said this about a book, but recently The Plan by Kendra Adachi FOUND ME. Seriously, if you’re a planner, Type A, and a perfectionist like me, it’s a must-read.
One of the principles of the book is to decide what’s most important to you in the season you’re in. When it comes to the month of December, the holiday season, and recognizing all that you have going on, it’s important to name what’s the most important thing to you right now. Is it togetherness with your family and loved ones? Is it saving money, knowing that cheer travel season is so close that it’s activating the motion detector on your Ring camera? Staying healthy and not getting sick?
Once you determine what’s the most important thing, you can plan your time and your To Do list around it, and everything else can be secondary. Well…as secondary as possible. I mean, the kids still need to eat dinner, I get it.
The Schedule is Your Frenemy
Get everything on the calendar ASAP. Practices, comps, family events—write it all down. And then, let’s be real, prepare for none of it to go as planned.
If something has to give, let it be the Pinterest-perfect holiday decor. No one will notice if your tree leans a little.
Create Systems
Sometimes it feels like the Universe hates cheer moms: Do you mean to tell me that we have extra practices, team bonding holiday events, AND high stakes competitions in December? Really?
One thing you can do is create systems to prepare. For example, I set aside every Thursday as my ‘errand day.’ I have a running list of errands that I add to as I think of them throughout the week, and then it all gets done on Thursday. Wednesdays are podcast recording days, and so on. That way my days don’t feel so fragmented, and I can have at least some structure around my week.The same can work for cheer, holiday shopping, and wrapping gifts.
Instead of waiting until the night before to make sure you have everything you need for competition day, why not print a checklist and start gathering things now? That way, if you notice that the uniform is dirty or you’re out of hairspray, you’ve allowed yourself time to fix it instead of panicking, staying up late, or using the hotel room blow dryer to dry said uniform, an hour before report time (yes, this happened to me).
Decide today what you’re going to wear to the next cheer competition. Even if the event is weeks away, chances are that you aren’t going to need your blinged out cheer mom jersey between now and then. Trust me, the fewer decisions you have to make during competition week, the less stressed you’ll feel.
Take Time for Yourself (Yes, That’s a Thing)
Schedule downtime, even if it’s just locking yourself in the bathroom for five minutes with a peppermint mocha. Just five minutes of deep breathing or a meditation exercise has done wonders for me.
Keep the Holidays Alive
If a cheer competition lands smack in the middle of your traditions, make new ones. Hotel room cookies? Tiny travel stockings? Caroling near the warm up room with teams from all over the state? Boom. Holiday magic.
The Cheer Mom Squad is Key
Team up for group gifts or organize a little holiday cheer mom get-together. Nothing bonds people like venting over competition day chaos.
At the end of the day, it’s all about balance (which is ironic, considering we’re juggling 100 things at once). You’ve got this. And if you don’t? There’s always wine.
