“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” —Anne Lamott

We’re often doing something in our lives. Some of us may be in school, others at work, or others taking care of their children at home. We’re all busy with our lives. Eventually we’ll begin to overwork ourselves. This can be especially seen during the holiday season. For many, the holiday season requires a lot of planning, preparing and caring for your guests. However, by worrying about these things can leave you little time to properly take care of yourself.

During holidays, there are so many happenings: people to reunite with, light shows to attend to, christmas goodies to be craving for, or decorating and holiday meals to prepare. Self-care is essential to performing these jobs well. You’ll likely be eating more, sleeping less, socializing more, shopping for the family, etc. Eventually, you’ll get burnout and stress. It’s important to realize that learning when to stop and say no to someone is the first step of self-care which is quite a powerful step to take, especially during the holidays.

Feeling bad emotionally can negatively affect your physical and mental wellbeing, which keeps you from being a good caregiver/host/friend/neighbor. Avoid attending a holiday gathering if you need time to yourself or to rest. Remember, you owe it to yourself first, so say no.Prioritizing yourself what is most meaningful can vary between caregiver to caregiver but is a critical tactic for all.No matter who we are, self-care is important for our physical, emotion and mental well-being. You shouldn’t neglect your self care.

Here are a few simple ways to start your self-care routine during the holiday season:

Creating a simple morning routine – getting right out of bed and helping set the tone for the day. There are two ways in which we can possibly start our day. If we start out calm, relaxed, then that’s more than likely of how the day will unfold. Starting off the day stress, unorganized, then it will be a long day. There are various amounts of ways in which we can start our day. It can be customized repeatedly until you find a pattern to follow.
Take a Small Walk – Take some time and bundle up (only if it’s cold). When you walk out the door, take a deep breath and head out with positive intentions (and of course the holiday cheer).
Eat Well – It’s okay to happily indulge in your favorite holiday treats. Although it may be the holidays, you still want to eat really well 85-90% of the time. It’s important to eat your main food groups at every meal, especially during breakfast. Don’t eat the treats because it’s there and savor those bites of all your favorites.
Journaling– Emotions are running high during this time of year. Yet, most of the time most of it is running through our heads, never said out-loud. So, take some time to write your thoughts down. Write down how you’re feeling and what makes you happy, sad, frustrated, tired, etc. These are your thoughts and it’s important to let these emotions out. By putting them on paper, this gives you the chance to move past these thoughts, clear your thoughts and continue to move on with your day with less bottled up emotions and/or stress.
Unplug from Technology – Turn off your phone, close your computer, and any other devices. Technology addiction is powerful. It holds us back from actually relaxing and talking with our family. By taking the time to power down, it can help you remove any uneasy and unhealthy feeling of jealousy, envy and loneliness. Powering down electronics gives you a period of time to reset and refocus on appreciation and gratitude for the lives we’ve been given.
Nap – Give your body and brain a chance to recharge on those go-go-go holiday marathon days. Even 20 minutes will make a big difference.

Hopefully, all these techniques can help you during this month of December! We all deserve to feel and be at our best, but it all starts with us. Take some time to do things for yourself. There are many resources out there that can help you start your self-care journey. It’s never too late to start! To help you get started, here is a December Mood Tracker and Self-Care Q&A!