The pending holiday season can be full of happiness, excitement and joy, but it can also cause overwhelming stress. Wrap up of end-of-year work tasks, countless social events, company Christmas party, school commitments and family gatherings can all contribute to a feeling of overwhelm.
We are expected to bring our positive attitude and smiling face to all of these events but on the inside, we may not feel so jolly.
It has been a tough year with yet another round of Covid, rising cost of living, interest rate rises and economic uncertainty. These events have all had a massive impact on our overall wellbeing.
So how do we ‘survive’ the jolly season?
Prioritize self-care
Self-care is not some hippie holistic concept, nor is it a modern-day trend. Self-care is simply: taking care of yourself.
It is about making a conscious and deliberate choice to do something physically, mentally and emotionally that supports your wellbeing. There is no one size fits all, it is different for everyone and only you know to take care of yourself.
Anything you do for yourself that makes you feel better or cared for falls under self-care.
Self-care does not have to cost you anything other than time. Some examples are:
- Have a restful and restorative night sleep
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day
- Go for an early morning walk and see the sun rise
- Say no to something you don’t want to do
- Make a list of 3 things you are grateful for
- Make a list of 5 things you really like about yourself
- Spend time with loved ones
- Set positive intentions for the new year that come from the heart.
Gratitude is the right attitude
It is very hard to feel stressed if your attitude is to feel grateful.
Grateful for those last-minute work responsibilities…. even though they seem to be never ending.
Grateful for those you love… even when they argue with you over Christmas dinner.
Grateful for the food on your table….. even though it cost you an arm and a leg to feed the whole family this year.
We are hard wired to have negativity bias and look at things through a negative lens. By showing gratitude, it changes your attitude to positive in an instant.
Be in the moment and mindfully aware
Most of our lives are spend in a state of being unconscious and not full aware. We are super excited that we get those 2 weeks Christmas holiday so we can finally unwind and in no time, it is over and we are back at our daily grind again the first week of January. When we are back at our desk, we ask ourselves – where did those 2 weeks go?
Being in the moment means becoming aware of the moment so you can consciously experience it. Joy is easy when you are conscious. Bring awareness to every moment the holiday season offers and experience joy in all the amazing moments it offers, the good and the bad.
De-personalise
Not everything is about you so stop taking everything personally this Christmas season. If a colleague at work raises their voice to you, or someone at the shops starts arguing about a parking spot, it has nothing to do with you but everything to do with them.
By not taking it personally you can rise above.
The jolly season -your way!
The holiday season is supposed to go a ‘certain way’. I am expected to show up jolly, so you should do the same, I don’t say hurtful things, so you should do the same, I drink lots of alcohol at the annual Christmas party, so you should do the same. You get where we are trying to go?
By doing it a ‘certain way’ and expecting others to do it the same way, you create unwanted and self-induced stress. So by doing the jolly season your way and expecting others to do it their way and bring full acceptance to that, you will find your stress levels decrease.