Do the holidays become more and more overwhelming as the years go by and you wonder how you’ll make it through? These self care tips are the absolute essentials for keeping your sanity this year!
Let’s be honest, there’s something about feeling like you have to be cheery that makes you automatically less cheerful.
It’s a fact of life and the holidays can be a huge source of stress and overwhelm, despite being the “happiest time of the year”. Unfortunately, most people seem to get caught up in the self-sacrificing for others cycle and find themselves unable to enjoy this season at all. And that’s where self care is a must!
These self care ideas will help you enjoy yourself and others more, all while managing the holidays.
This post is all about self care ideas.
Self Care Ideas
Whether you practice self care often or not at all, these ideas are the perfecting jumping-off point and I’m going to try to make them extra good just for you!
Also, we need to stop glamorizing the backburner.
You are a person who matters and you should have no business putting yourself on the backburner. Haven’t you ever heard that you can’t pour from an empty cup?
Hint – it’s a metaphor and you’re the cup!
So let’s stop believing that in order to be a good person for others, we need to sacrifice ourselves. Okay? Okay.
Let me set the scene first –
It’s a stressful day and maybe you’re at wit’s end, you’ve been toiling and doing whatever it is you do, and now you need a break.
Easy Ideas (low or no cost!)
- Queue up some of your favorite songs and dance it out.
- Grab your book and hide somewhere for an intimate reading session (need book recommendations? Read these.)
- Watch Love Actually or a Friends re-run (take advantage of free trials since there are billions of streaming channels).
- Change into a better outfit or ditch the duds and put on a robe.
- Just stare outside and breathe deeply.
- Go outside for a walk (whether it’s brisk or freezing will determine the distance you walk).
- Catch up on Woman of Culture blog posts!
- Tidy up your space to your liking, put everything where you want it to go.
- Journal out all those strong emotions.
- Look in the mirror and try to laugh at yourself for 1 minute.
- Play video games (meet me on the Nintendo switch?).
Stress comes and goes but time doesn’t stop. Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s okay to feel it through but don’t dwell there any longer than you need to.
- Give yourself a mini spa treatment.
- Browse mansions on Zillow.
- Organize your closet.
- Go workout and dominate the gym.
- Write thoughtful letters to people letting them know you’re grateful for them.
- Watch Youtube videos (my personal faves are Hannah Lee Duggan and Lauren Giraldo).
- Punch a pillow (or pillows if you need).
- Stretch your body and unclenched/relax whatever’s tensed.
- Drink some tea.
- Light a candle or burn some incense (or turn on your diffuser, whatever smells you like).
Remember that it’s not a bad life, just a bad day.
Someone has said this beofre, not a kate holman original.
Now you might be wondering what’s left to do if you’re in a more confined situation.
(think: a car ride or you’re at someone’s home and surrounded by people).
But don’t let that discourage you!
You still need to treat yourself and maintain your self care, so without further ado –
Quick Self-Care Reminders
- Set your boundaries. It can be extremely hard to enforce boundaries with family (especially if you’ve been stuck in a boundary-crossing pattern with them for years), but you HAVE to do it. For your sanity’s sake.
{RELATED POST: How To Set Healthy Boundaries With Friends & Find Peace}
- Take a couple minutes to yourself when you can. Whether it’s at a gas stop from a car ride or you can sneak away to a separate room, give yourself a moment without others around to just breathe.
- Find your allies. The holidays can be rough, it’s good to have someone that will understand your frustrations and rants.
- Stand up for yourself but not everything is a fight. Some people love to watch the world burn and want to start little “discussions” turned arguments, so make sure you stand up for yourself but you also know when to tune them out.
- Bring that posivity. A negative mindset makes everything worse so don’t shoot yourself in the foot right off the bat (okay that whole sentence was a colloquialism #sorry).
The holidays will pass and so don’t waste the whole season being overwhelmed.
Now that you’re equipped with these self care ideas, go take on the holidays in full swing and enjoy yourself!
This post was all about self care ideas.
© Woman of Culture 2022
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