Holiday Self Care
In collaboration with Lacie Anthony, LPC
The holidays are a special time of year. With the busyness of the season, we can sometimes stray away from our normal routines and healthy habits. We have included below a Q&A with our behavioral health counselor Lacie Anthony. She has shared some great ideas about how to care for ourselves physically and mentally. These can be applied at any time in our lives, but are especially pertinent over the holidays.
Lacie- How do we take care of ourselves mentally over the holidays?
Taking care of ourselves mentally falls under the umbrella of self-care. Often when we think “self-care” all kinds of lavish, luxurious images come to mind. While taking a trip to a tropical island or going to a spa are wonderful ways to take care of ourselves, self-care can really include anything that we do for ourselves to establish and maintain health, and to prevent and deal with illness. Typically, during the holidays, we simply stop doing the normal every day stuff that we usually do to take care of ourselves. Things like eating healthy, making our bed, going for a walk, brushing our teeth, reading or really enjoying a good cup of coffee get forgotten about. We often feel that these things need to go to the wayside in lieu of shopping, baking, decorating, wrapping etc. and we often feel guilty or selfish for saying no to the 5th holiday party we get invited to or not participating in Secret Santa at work. The truth is, when we continue to take care of ourselves in these small but important ways, we are setting ourselves up to enjoy the holidays more and making it easier for us to be present and truly enjoy the time we are spending with our loved ones. Along with giving yourself permission to care for yourself in your usual way and saying no when you need to, here are some other ideas to be extra caring towards yourself during the holidays.
Find short periods of time daily to sit quietly - Whether we’re able to find a free 3 minutes or 30 minutes to take a break. We can use that time to practice mindfulness, pray, do some deep breathing or meditate but you can also just sit quietly and reflect on what you are looking forward to or are grateful for as well.
Tap into a sense of play – it’s easy to get wrapped up in the “to do’s” of the holidays, forget the magic and wonderment, and next thing you know it’s over. Take 5 or 10 minutes to do something playful – sing a song, dance in your kitchen, recite some lines from your favorite Christmas movie or literally play with your kids – to help you remember why this is a special time of year.
Make room for all types of feelings - There tends to be an underlying pressure during the holidays to feel perpetually happy and festive, but the reality is that it is common for this time of year to bring up feelings of sadness, stress, anxiety, grief, and loneliness. Allowing these feelings to arise as they will and sitting with them is an act of self-care and gives us time to be compassionate with ourselves.
Practice letting go of expectations - Sometimes, the best, biggest act of holiday self-care we can give ourselves is simply to work on letting go of the standards and expectations we so often set for ourselves at this time of year — fixed ideas created in the mind that might not match how life actually plays out. Practice is a key word here as our brain loves to bring up all kinds of “shoulds” and “have tos”, so practice letting go every time you “should” on yourself.
In closing, science shows that when we engage in some type of mindfulness daily we can reduce stress by 11%. Here a few good guided mindfulness exercises that that are under 5 minutes on the Calm app under the category “Reduce Stress and Anxiety”:
- Pump the Brakes on Stress
- Breathe into Relaxation
- Managing Overwhelm
- Guided Breathing
We hope this helps you enter the holiday season with plans and purpose. Celebrate in a way that brings you joy! From your friends at Crossing Rivers Health, we wish you wellness over the holidays and into the New Year!