Hold onto your sanity during the holidays
The holidays are a beautiful time of cheer, happiness, and love. You get to spend quality time with your families and truly enjoy one another. Leading up to the actual holiday can be stressful. Gifts, schedules, food, decorations, traveling, entertaining, and so on. It seems like the list gets longer every year. Before you pull your hair out and lock yourself in your room, here are a few tips to help make the craziness a little more manageable.
Meditation or anything that soothes you is an activity you should make time for as often as you can. This can be classic yoga, or something as simple as taking a walk. Baking, knitting, and painting are also great stress relievers. Why? It’s an activity with a soothing repetitive action and that can reduce your stress and help you keep a clear mind.
Think positive thoughts. This might seem obvious, but often is not. Instead of going through the running list in your head, take time to think about something that makes you happy and relaxes you. It could be a dream getaway or even a memory that brings you ease.
Remember to breathe. Again, seems obvious since you do that every day without thinking about it, but when you are stressed your breathing can become shallow and forced. Take deep soothing breathes and even some yoga breathing exercises can reset your body.
Stop multitasking. Have you ever multitasked, and I mean more than two things at once, and not made a mistake? Doubtful. Take a moment each day to focus on one thing. Maybe your morning cup of coffee, or your favorite magazine. Doing so will help you focus when you need to later on.
Take time to chat with a friend, cuddle your dog, or even just hug your significant other. Doing so can help lower your blood pressure and release your stress hormones.
Give yourself a rub down. Release tension by rubbing your shoulders, neck, and stretching your arms. Even better if you have someone to give you a quick back massage.
Give yourself a time-out. Go to your happy place, whether it be a special spot in your home or on a bench in the park. Bring a book or listen to calming music. Everyone needs some time to themselves and this shouldn’t be an exception around the holidays.
Laughter really is the best medicine. Laughing and smiling bring all kinds of good things to your body and it’s something you probably do every day without realizing, so make it happen during the holidays too! Don’t take it all too seriously, and remember how joyful life is. That’s something sure to help you get through the holidays.