Holiday Self-Care
It’s the most wonderful time of the year and the most chaotic for some. Between holiday dinners, company parties, end-of-year deadlines, and school dress-up days for the week, a lot of us are pulled in multiple directions during the entire month of December. What once was looked forward to as a “winter break” back in the day is now dreaded by many due to adulting woes and emotional burnout.
So how do you take care of yourself during the holidays? What does self-care look like when your weekends are booked with holiday parties and the kids are home and “bored” for two weeks? Here are a few unconventional self-care tips I like to share with clients:
Make quiet time for yourself. Whether it’s a few minutes in the bathroom alone or a solo trip to Target, pay attention to your body when you're feeling overstimulated and find a quiet space as soon as you can. Reconnect with your company when you feel better.
Set realistic boundaries with yourself. Looking at your holiday to-do list, are you spreading yourself beyond capacity? Are the deadlines you’ve set for yourself mandatory or self-imposed? I often encourage clients to re-assess the urgency of their to-do items and prioritize joy when they can.
Declutter! Decluttering is freeing physically and mentally; it frees up mental space and maximizes creativity, not to mention the literal freedom of space in your physical environment. This doesn’t have to be a major weekend project either. I encourage clients to do what they can at their own pace, such as thumbing through your closet while putting laundry away, emptying the junk drawer (or your spam inbox), etc.
Not what you expected? I call these tips unconventional because I’ve learned over the years that people don't have the capacity or desire to get pedicures when the suggestions listed above aren’t done consistently. When self-care is prioritized as a fundamental need instead of a luxury, there’s more capacity to do all the holiday things with holiday cheer!
Do you struggle with making time for self-care and want to prioritize it intentionally? Download my workbook Self-Care Simplified here.