Here’s How You Can Maintain Your Sanity Through The Holiday Season
As Halloween approaches, the entire holiday season is right behind it. Soon enough, it’ll be Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and before we know it, Christmas! This time of year, while amazing, can become very overwhelming quite easily. From running around trying to find great gifts for everyone to finalizing your plans and activities on each holiday, it’s hectic. As a result of everything going on, it can be difficult to maintain a normal self-care routine, which, of course, can lead to you feeling frazzled and overwhelmed. If you want to keep things under control more or less and make sure you won’t spiral, we’ve gathered some vital tips and ways you can maintain your sanity throughout the most stressful time of the year.
Get Enough Sleep
This is the most important one. It’s shocking how many of us don’t get anyway near the amount of sleep we’re meant to on a regular basis. All the same, it’s not so shocking since we all experience it. Seeing as this season brings on even more tasks to do than usual, it makes sense that sleep will become even less of a priority. However, that’s one thing you can’t let happen. In order to perform at your best, you need to rest. Try creating a nightly routine for yourself. It can be anything, from reading a few pages of a book before bed to doing a 5-minute yoga stretch. This will separate your daily stress from your time to unwind and get to sleep. A great way to start is by going to sleep at the same time every night. Once it becomes routine, you won’t have to think about it.
Schedule Gaps
When you’re planning out your holidays, make sure to schedule in time for yourself to take a moment and relax. Take a weekend to do nothing and simply recharge after a busy week. Or, take a few hours during the week to focus on you and self-care. Take a bubble bath, read a book, watch a good movie. Anything goes when it comes to taking care of yourself.
Exercise
Exercising will do wonders for your mental health, no matter what workout you choose to do. Even 5-10 minutes of exercising can seriously improve your overall well-being both physically and mentally. As you probably are aware, exercise stimulates the production of endorphins, which combat stress. Not to mention, working out makes your body stronger – so it’s a win-win.
Eat Well
It’s easy to get carried away with junk food over the holidays, and we don’t blame you in the slightest. There are so many tasty treats all over the place! From pumpkin spice lattes to eggnog and Halloween chocolates. We’re not going to tell you not to eat anything bad, but there is a way to keep everything in balance. Make sure to snack often to keep your metabolism running and avoid binging. Keep healthy snacks with you, like nuts. On top of that, drink plenty of water throughout the day. The best thing to do is to keep a water bottle on your desk as a visual reminder.
Practice Saying ‘No’
It might be tempting to RSVP ‘yes’ to every invite you get, but learning to say ‘no’ is a sure way to stay sane during the holiday season. Instead of getting pulled into all the invites and parties, take a moment to figure out what you really want. If you’re going to parties since you feel obligated rather than excited, take a step back and practice saying no. Only say yes to the things you enjoy.
