Easy Ways to Take Care of Yourself During the Holidays

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Taking care of yourself should be a year-round thing. But, it can be quite difficult for all of us in November and December. We sleep less, eat what we don't normally eat, play more, and plan more. And all of this can have a major effect on us by the time January rolls around. So, to make this a successful holiday and reduce your holiday stress, I am sharing some easy ways to take care of yourself (affiliate) throughout the holidays. Let's do this!

Jump to:

Physical Health
Mental and Emotional Wellbeing
Social Boundaries
Stress Management
Planning and Organization
How to Create a Holiday Season Planner to Save Money and Time
Connection and Meaning
How to Organize Your Holiday Cookie Baking Tradition
How to Organize Your Family Holiday Traditions
12 Quick Examples for Self-Care during the holidays

There are several points that you need to focus on to make your holidays enjoyable and not stressful. Focus on Physical health, mental and emotional wellbeing, social boundaries, stress management, planning and organization, connection and meaning.

Physical Health

Take care of your body's basic needs by maintaining regular sleep schedules enve when festivities run late. Stay hydrated throughout holiday gathering and balance indulgent foods with nutritious ones. Limit alcohol especially at special events and activities. And, with the busy schedule be sure to keep up with your fitness routine (affiliate). This is not the time to start new ones.

Mental and Emotional Wellbeing

Keep in mind this is not the time for extreme changes. Set realistic expectations for yourself and others during this time of year. Practice saying no to commitments that feel overwhelming or just do not align with your values. Take breaks from social media if holiday posts are stressing you out. And, allow yourself to feel whatever emotions come up. Joy, sadness, or anxiety are very common this time of year. It's OK to understand that and forgive yourself for the judgment. Say to yourself, I am allowed to have these feels. I am not alone. I am loved.

Establishing clear limits on gift spending to avoid financial stress is important. It's a great time to speak up about how much you can afford and if you do not want to get any gifts, be sure to share that as well.

And, if you feel you are having issues with family members each year, decide in advance how you'll handle difficult conversations with family members. It's okay to leave gatherings early or skip events that consistently drain you and your energy. This is the time for you to enjoy the holidays not feel obligated to tolerate others.

Keep communication open so everyone knows your needs than assuming others will guess what you want.

Stress Management

Quiet time is an effective way to manage your stress this time of year. Practice deep breathing or meditation when you feel overwhelmed. Keep a simple routine (affiliate) that grounds you consistently each day. Prepared responses ahead of time for questions you'd rather not answer about your personal life if you are dealing with things and wish to keep things private.

While these are great quick tasks to do, don't forget to do something you love to do each year. A family tradition, a visit to a childhood event or place, or a gathering that you love to have each year also feeds your soul and gives you something to look forward to through busy times. When doing these events, make it known to the people attending that you really enjoy these events. By sharing your passion for these events, you will show others that this is something you want to do and also give them a reason for not acting up or refusing to participate. Remember, people can't read minds, so make sure your feelings are known.

Planning and Organization

While as a professional organizer, I advocate making lists, I have a hole ebook that you can get to help you plan the holiday season, understand that making a list for your top priorities is more important than managing EVERYTHING in your life, especially this time of year. Have a backup plans for gatherings in case things don't go as expected helps take the anxiety off a plan that may fall through.

How to Create a Holiday Season Planner to Save Money and Time

Planning is necessary so we can fit in everything and enjoy the holiday season. Starting from November and running through the middle of January, we tend to participate in or host several events, either at home or outside the house, during this time. To help you keep your expenses in check and your day more

Connection and Meaning

Focus on experiences and connections rather than perfect execution of holiday traditions. Reaching out to family and friends who might also be struggling during the holiday is a great way to make stay connected and give back to others. Volunteering and helping others is a great way to find purpose and perspective.

To feed your soul, schedule some volunteer time with the needy. Volunteering at a food kitchen or a homeless shelter, sharing your talents with animals, helping out at an animal rescue place, and helping out at your kids' school will give you that warm feeling inside. Volunteering with others also helps so get family and friends involved. It's fun, and you are helping a good cause.

Looking around in your area and creating new traditions that reflect your current life situation rather than forcing old ones that no longer fit is a great way to freshen up your holiday season. We modified our Christmas Day event after the death of my mom, and then the death of my mother-in-law, and now our extended family attend instead of just immediate family. It helps not only people who are estranged from their family, but also helps people who feel lonely during the holidays because of family loss.

How to Organize Your Holiday Cookie Baking Tradition

To bake this massive amount of cookies on the same day takes a lot of planning. So, this post is about how we can bake cookies more efficiently without spending extra money on overbuying ingredients and how we can reduce our time making them. I hope these holiday cookie-baking tips help first-time cookie-bakers and anyone

How to Organize Your Family Holiday Traditions

Starting to plan your holiday traditions? It seems early, but if you do holiday traditions around Thanksgiving, it isn't that early. So, let's plan, shall we? Every year in the United States, there are many holiday traditions you can do from Thanksgiving to the New Year, and immediately after, we take part in or host.

But, what you pick does not need a lot of thought. To start, it's important to have easy-to-do short "self-care" tasks that will go a long way in keeping you sane this time of year. These tasks remind you that you are loved and taken care of and can help you get through the things that need to be done this season. Here are my 12 favorite quick 30-minute or less self-care tasks.

12 Quick Examples for Self-Care during the holidays

Give yourself a home facial. I enjoy doing this first thing in the morning before my shower.
Do a facial scrub. When I am running out of time in the morning, doing a facial scrub in the shower is a great option.
Take a bubble bath. I like setting up the tablet, watching a ½-hour episode of my favorite funny show, and taking a dip.
Straighten up the bedroom. This may sound like OCD, but it really does help me sleep at night. Try it and see.
Clear clutter in a drawer that annoys me. You may not think decluttered drawers can bother you. However, when you are in the drawer all the time and can't find the thing you are looking for, organizing the drawer and clearing the clutter will help.
Make a list of items that you want to do but keep forgetting to do. The one thing that annoys me each holiday is when I forget what I need to do. So, making a list really helps me stay on track with the tasks.
Take a bike ride or walk the dog. Exercise will really help, especially on those sunny, cooler days.
Do a craft project to beautify the home. Decorating my home for the holiday is fun for me. I went from being super extravagant to more minimalistic these days. But I always enjoyed having my favorite holiday things around me.
Do yoga stretches. I love watching TV and doing some stretching. But, if I am not watching TV, listening to classical music and doing some down-dog poses really helps.
Listen to your favorite music and dance your heart out. This task is one of my favorites, especially when my kids were little and we would dance together. It was so much fun, and it really did release the stress of the season.
Plan and set up a budget for holiday spending. Overspending can make you feel upset and feel your finances are out of control. So, respecting your budget will also show you that you respect yourself.
Stay on schedule each morning. If you have a cup of coffee and read your favorite news site, keep doing that throughout the holidays.

I hope this helps you remember that you, too, are important throughout this holiday season of giving. Give also to you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Feel free to visit my other self-care posts to inspire you!

But wait, want to get more information on self-care during the holidays? Visit these experts below.

Self-Care During the Holidays

5 Tips for Self-Care During the Holidays

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