If you are reading this I assume you survived Thanksgiving meals, black Friday deals, and anything in between. Now you have the extraordinary task of getting through the month of December in America.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this time of year but with a stressful season of school programs, holiday baking, office parties, presents, celebratory decorations in every store, on websites and even on coffee creamers, it makes me want to plan a mid-January escape as a reward. This way I can look forward to another life adventure and Christmas won’t have to be cancelled.

I am an escape artist by nature. Facing stress of any kind, I want a way out, or at least a celebration at the end of the stress. (In the past, these escapes were more easily planned with a couple of bottles of wine and a Johnny Depp movie, but I digress.) This alleviates the let down when the holiday season is over and everything goes back to normal.

For example, yesterday I’m minding my own business shopping on the American Girl Doll website and I see the doll of the year is Kanani from Hawaii. Suddenly I find myself pressured to buy the doll because she will be out of circulation by New Year’s Eve. I’m obsessing that if I don’t purchase it now, and I mean right now, I will ruin my child’s Christmas and where will that leave me? My anxiety is building. This is when my mind drifts to dreaming of an island getaway.

I decide to Google “Island Getaways” for a minute. More than 9 million results come up and I realize this might take a while. I am elated to know there are romantic getaways, private islands, resort islands all existing within the click of a button. Your escape is just a click of a button away too.

Maybe your getaway is a ski vacation, bundled up in snowsuits for a few days then thawing in a spa at night. You could even pick a city of interest and shop its after-holiday sales. If you can’t take time off from work then celebrate with something simple near your home and be a tourist in your own town.

Can you relate to my situation? Or am I building it up myself to rationalize my dream of sitting on the beach in Costa Rica come mid January?

Create your escape, ask yourself what would celebrating getting through another holiday season look like?