Christmas and New Year can be super fun, but the holidays can also be hugely stressful.
At its worst, the emotional stresses and strains can lead to anxiety, depression, and loneliness. At the least, it can put a great deal of pressure on you, hitting you with a slew of health issues.
I’m giving you 5 essential tips that can take the stress out of the holiday season and make it a happy end to the year.
Keeping Stress in Check over the Holidays
Planning is super important for avoiding last-minute stress. Get as much support as you can for Christmas and New Year prep — especially if you’ll be doing the bulk of it yourself. Delegate key tasks to ease the pressure, and don’t be afraid to ask people to bring a dish or two.
When you’re super busy, it’s easy for your usual coping strategies to be sidelined. Taking some time every day to keep up with these self-care activities is crucial for staying sane this Christmas and New Year.
If you usually do yoga, meditation, or journaling, build in some time to carry on with this, even if you don’t have as much opportunity as usual.
Your to-do list can feel overwhelming during the holidays.
The endless stress around shopping, decorating, wrapping presents, and entertaining can mean you don’t have a moment to breathe properly — or enjoy the holidays as much as you should.
Taking a step back and appreciating the little things about the holidays can be super effective. This can be as simple as savouring the gorgeous smells from your oven or imagining how much pleasure your choice of gifts will bring. According to studies, doing this type of mindfulness helps reduce perceived stress and can also have positive effects on anxiety and depression.
Self-Care Tips for The Holidays
Taking care of yourself over the holidays can feel super tough, especially if you’re time-poor.
Here’s how to make sure you still take care of yourself over Christmas and New Year…
1-) Get Plenty of Sleep
With parties, pressure, and family visits, sleep can be elusive over the holidays, and that can be bad news for your wellbeing. It also affects your energy and mood — both of which can mean you don’t make the most of the holiday season.
Caffeine and alcohol can also be culprits for disrupting sleep. Most of us drink more of these over Christmas and New Year and find it harder to sleep well.
Sleep helps your body protect itself against illness. It can leave you open to unhealthy snacking and weight gain.
Try to stick to your regular sleep patterns as much as you can. Exercise can be super helpful for encouraging better sleep. If you’re tempted to skip workouts over the holidays, it’s likely to affect your sleep.
2-) Keep Exercising
Even if you can’t fit in a ton of workouts over the holidays, doing what you can avoid piling on extra pounds and keep stress in check.
If you’re not hitting the gym, try doing short HIIT circuits at home, Pilates, or using a resistance band. Even climbing your stairs can be a perfect indoor workout — it’s more exhausting than you might think, especially if you climb two stairs at a time or run up some flights.
And there’s always walking and ice skating too!
3-) Go Easy on the Alcoholic Drinks
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a few alcoholic drinks over the holidays — just don’t go too overboard.
This is super important if you’re struggling with anxiety since alcohol can affect serotonin levels in your brain and make anxiety symptoms worse. This can lead to “alcohol-induced anxiety” as the effects of drinking alcohol start to wear off.
Drink something non-alcoholic to pace yourself with alcohol. As a bonus, it’ll reduce your liquid calories too. Most of us don’t pay much attention to the calories we’re racking up through drinks, but it can be a super common factor in holiday weight gain.
4-) Eat Plenty of Veggies
With all the holiday food available, it’s hard to think about vegetables. But, if you want to come out on the other side of the holiday season feeling better than last year, it’s time to veg it up!
Vegetables aren’t just a great source of nutrients over Christmas and New Year. They can also help your digestion — which can easily be knocked off balance by holiday foods and a change of routine. Think about adding in veggie sticks with dips or load up the side dishes!
Bonus points if you can add in some fermented foods to help keep your gut healthy over the holidays.
5-) Healthy Boundaries During the Holidays
Many of us are more passive over the holidays. Maybe you’re super scared to ruin the holidays by saying what you really think or being with your family brings unhealthy habits to the fore again.
It’s okay to say “no” to things that won’t be in your best interests. You don’t have to accept every social invitation that comes your way or go along with what everyone else wants. Spreading yourself too thinly over the holidays can lead to burnout. Focus on what you genuinely want to say “yes” to and try not to feel pressured into agreeing to things.
Write a list of the things YOU want to do, set time to do them. This will help to fill your time with quality time on your terms.
6-) Minimising Financial Pressures Over the Holidays
Let’s face it, the holidays can be a super expensive time of year! Set yourself a budget for buying gifts and stick to it. This will likely mean setting a budget per person and starting your shopping early so you can hunt around for bargains. Or perhaps make some gifts such as your own essential oil blend perfume, photo frames or gift boxes.
If Christmas and New Year events are going to blow a big hole in your budget, be selective with the ones you choose to include or look for ways to make them more affordable.
Hope these self-care tips will help you get through the holiday season with less stress and enjoy your time with your loved ones. Happy Holidays!
With love,
Ayshim