Preserving Your Mental Health with Holiday Self-Care

If you find the holiday season challenging, you’re not alone. The holidays are often depicted as a time of joy, celebration, and togetherness, but for many of us, it can bring up a range of difficult thoughts and feelings. For some people, the holidays are filled with stressors like social obligations, financial strain, and the emotional weight of personal or familial expectations. These pressures can take a toll on your wellbeing, making you feel overwhelmed and drained.

Self-care can help you cope with challenging times by ensuring your emotional, physical, and social needs are being met.  Self-care is taking actions to preserve or improve your wellbeing, especially during periods of stress. Self-care can provide a buffer, helping you manage these pressures in healthier ways.

By taking the time for self-care during the holidays, you’re better equipped to be present and supportive of others. You can approach holiday tasks and social interactions with more energy and a clearer, more positive mindset.

Here are six simple self-care tips that can be implemented throughout the holiday period to help you feel less stressed, more resilient and ready to face the world.

• Spend time in the outdoors – nature can have a huge impact on your physical and mental health, and for many people it's a go-to strategy for calm and to decompress. Spending time in nature can lower your heart rate and blood pressure and provides space for mental clarity. Remember that you can just as easily connect with nature in your own garden or nearest park, as you can on a hike through the forest.
  

• Get face-to-face – close connections are important to your physical wellbeing and mental outlook. Everyone has slightly different social needs, but it’s important to spend time cultivating positive relationships with the people in your life who help you to feel your best. Friendships can help prevent isolation and loneliness, increase your sense of purpose and belonging and ultimately boost happiness and reduce stress levels.
  

• Try a new hobby – learning a new skill or revisiting an old hobby can put you in a different frame of mind and give you a new perspective on life. Why not try an activity or class that involves spending time with friends or meeting new people to boost those social skills and reap the endorphin rewards that come with it?
  

• Financial check – financial instability can cause a build up of stress, so having a solid financial plan can be a positive act of self-care. A great place to start is by using free apps like Pocketbook or Moneybrilliant to boost your budgeting skills and set you on the way to financial peace of mind.
  

• Declutter – you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘tidy house, tidy mind’. It turns out that a quick clean up of a disorganized space can be an act of self-care. A study from the Mayo Clinic found that extra ‘stuff’ is stressful and can lead to higher levels of cortisol (the hormone related to stress response) in the body. Set a timer for 15 minutes and choose one area of the house to give a once over.
  

• Practice positive self-talk – we praise our friends, family members and colleagues almost every single day, but forget about one important person – ourselves. Try putting the ‘self’ in ‘self-care’ and celebrate your little wins with positive words and encouragement. Even if you tend to be a little more pessimistic, studies have shown that you can train your brain to learn positive thinking skills.

For more tips on how to stay mental strong over the holiday period, head to www.calm.com/blog/holiday-self-care