The holiday season is upon us! Therefore, tis the season to overindulge, overcommit and completely lose your mind, right? If you are anything like me, it is incredibly easy for that to be your holiday season reality. Between family traditions (for some, obligations), personal goals and just keeping up with everyday life, it is easy to throw self-care to the wind. But the holiday season can be a magical time and it’s important to create boundaries and structure to be able to enjoy the magic instead of resenting it. Thus, let’s keep the “me” in “merry” this year and head into the new year with a happy, healthy mind and body.
Balance Traditions
Regardless of which holidays you celebrate, this time of year brings traditions o’ plenty. Some traditions are happily welcomed, while others may be painful or obligatory. As you move through the holiday season, prioritize and create boundaries. I promise, the world will not end if you do not participate in every single age-old family tradition that you had growing up.
Coming from a close-knit family, my parents did a wonderful job creating magic and happy traditions throughout the holidays. Some big, some small, but all fabulously meaningful. As the years have gone by, the physical distance has increased between us and it’s now harder to be present for every special moment that I grew up being a part of. News flash! The world still turns. I learned to prioritize the family traditions that bring the most joy into my heart, making room for my own self-care.
Creating New Normals
Getting married? Bringing children into your life? These are beautiful moments that will inevitably challenge your “normal” holiday traditions. While that can be sad, try not to sulk and instead think positively. These are wonderful opportunities to create new traditions of your own. Open your heart to those possibilities.
In a nutshell: Find a balance. Don’t feel bad for creating boundaries to protect your physical and mental health. Make room for new traditions of your own. Bring old traditions into your new ones. Most importantly, keep a special place open in your heart for all the beautiful memories of traditions that are no longer an annual occurrence.
Hydrate Your Hair and Skin
Let us not act surprised by this one, ladies. Winter weather makes us dry AF! You name it (hair, hands, feet, face, everything else) and you can bet your ass that it will be dry as soon as the days get shorter and the nights get colder. Why? I have no f*ckin’ clue. However, I do know that we can practice self-care to help curb it because dry, cracking cuticles are no woman’s friend.
Self-Care in Your Beauty Routine
Buy that hydrating face mask that you have always wanted to try or the lip mask you know and love. Slather your body with your favorite ultra-hydrating lotion every night to avoid waking up feeling like the old, crusty sponge you’ve forgotten about under your kitchen sink. Add a hair treatment oil or hydrating mask to your routine and beef up the use of your leave-in conditioner.
As we get busier during the holiday months, it’s easy to forget to take the extra steps we need to care for our bodies. Try to make your personal care a priority by establishing a winter beauty routine that is attainable and rewarding. If you feel good on the outside, you will surely feel better on the inside.
Keep Moving
When the temperature drops (and the big, comfy sweaters come out) it is hard not to put your exercise and movement goals on the back burner. It’s horrible, but it happens. Not only is the weather colder, but the days are shorter, and working out in the dark is just not as fun, right?
On top of mother nature’s influences, everyone is usually busier and those family traditions and holiday happenings we were talking about earlier pull us in (what seems like) a million different directions. Where do you find time to work out? What if you live where the weather is more inclement? How do you prioritize exercise over family functions? Luckily, there are so many different ways you can implement movement without having to make a huge time, space and equipment commitment. Exercise is an important element of self-care, so don’t skip it!
How I Stay Active
A Peloton app membership is a great way to implement exercise. While their bike is amazing, it is expensive and may not be realistic for everyone. However, the app alone gives you access to a huge library of classes (yoga, cardio, strength, HIIT, meditation) and a lot of the workouts require little equipment and timeframes to fit into every busy holiday schedule. Who can’t make time for a 15 minute HIIT class or half an hour of yoga?
I also love bringing my TRX suspension training system inside during the winter. There is a door anchor, so it can be moved to any room of your house. The system is a great way to build a full gym experience into one compact piece of equipment. What makes them a favorite? Since they are powered by your bodyweight, they are perfect for all levels of fitness and great for improving mobility and flexibility as well as strength.
Rule No. 76. No excuses, play like a champion. (shameless Wedding Crashers quote)
Treat Yourself (Within Reason)
During the holiday season of 2021 I really (reallllllllllly) neglected my self-care. My mental health was in the toilet, I was still coping with some unresolved and unaddressed traumas and I turned to yummy, delicious treats to cope. Does that make me a bad person? Absolutely not. Did it make me feel better in the moment? Absolutely. Do I wish I had the strength to cope with healthier habits? Of course.
BUT. Eating Christmas cookies or holiday-sized portions is completely reasonable and I firmly believe that no one should completely deprive themselves of these simple satisfactions. Let yourself indulge within reason and remember that treats are meant to be treats. Treat yourself, but don’t let those treats turn into daily habits or excuses. Most importantly, don’t let those treats cover up bigger issues within your heart that need to be set free.
If this holiday season is catching you at a sad time, and you are coping with cookies like I have done in the past, I’m sending virtual hugs your way and wishing you the strength you need to find your inner sunshine.
Don't Forget the Vitamin D
Alright, let’s talk about “the sunshine vitamin”. First, I’m not a doctor, nutritionist or anything else particularly science-y. Though common sense tells me that when our sunny summer days are replaced with long winter nights, soaking up those golden rays gets trickier. Especially for the 8-to-5-ers out there.
If you know that your Vitamin D intake dwindles this time of year, try to be mindful of it and do what you can to implement more. Eat foods naturally high in Vitamin D like salmon, tuna, egg yolks and some mushrooms. Eat Vitamin D fortified foods like orange juice, milk (cow or soy) and cereal. Take a walk outside for your work breaks. You can also take a supplement, but talk to your doctor first. I’m no professional.
Fun Fact
For my fellow vegans and veggie lovers: Vitamin D levels in mushrooms can be naturally increased by exposing them to sunlight! Thanks to my super-nerd husband for pointing me in the direction of Paul Stamets’ (AKA the mushroom king) research on placing mushrooms in sunlight to get your Vitamin D. What are you waiting for? Go sun-dry your shrooms!
Take Time to Enjoy
This one is hard, isn’t it? Trying to please everyone else and getting wrapped up in your holiday to-dos are yet another excuse for putting your needs and wants on hold. We stress, stress and stress some more then before we know it the season is over and we have not even enjoyed it. Personally, that is one of the hardest parts about the holiday season.
Slowing Down
As I have started establishing my own holiday season routine, I have incorporated new traditions that force me to slow down and enjoy the time of year that makes my heart so happy. My favorite new tradition: My husband and I take a few hours for a walk through “Christmas Tree Lane”. It forces us to unplug, relax and soak up the magic of the lights with our dogs, Marley and Alfie. Bliss. Another new tradition is an annual Christmas puzzle. After all the decorations are up, the puzzle comes out and we work on it by the tree light.
We also take our sweet, sweet time picking out and decorating our tree. When we go to the tree lot we pick up peppermint mochas, inspect every tree at least two times and Marley usually poops in an inappropriate place. Then, during the decorating process we watch at least two movies (Home Alone and Christmas Vacation, duh!).
Do whatever you need to do to celebrate you and make yourself happy during this time. Try to slow down and give yourself the opportunity to enjoy instead of be annoyed. Next year, I think I may start an annual “Merry-Christmas-to-me-massage” tradition. Thoughts? Sounds like the ultimate self-care to me!
Extend the Season
As the wife of a nurse, I have learned a very important lesson: The holiday season does not begin and end on a specific date. There are no rules for the timeline of your celebrations, so don’t confine your holiday fun with the idea that Christmas has to be celebrated on Christmas day. Or that your decorations have to be removed from sight before the New Year. I leave mine up until Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I refuse to let anyone make me feel bad for that.
In the spirit of balancing traditions and taking time to enjoy the season, do what you need to do to relieve some of the pressure. For me, that means extending the season and eliminating the idea Christmas cannot be celebrated over the course of the entire month.
Let NYE Plans Fill the Void
Am I the only one who lumps the New Year’s festivities into the Christmas season? I hope not! If you are annihilated by family and Christmas obligations, and you find yourself hosting all those festive celebrations, take a break for NYE and rely on a friend or other family member to host that party. Give yourself a break from the responsibility and take the time to enjoy and reflect instead.
On the other hand, if you are the type of person who does not (or is not able to) host or celebrate with family over Christmas Eve and Day, take the opportunity to lighten the load for your hosting-heavy friends and family by throwing the party yourself. One of me and my husband’s favorite parties to host is NYE. We have found that people typically don’t have set-in-stone plans and we love being able to gather all our friends and family for a post-Christmas celebration.
There are so many different ways that the holidays can influence our emotions. Family drama can make the season stressful. Heartbreak can make the season feel lonely. All the while, social media (and every other aspect of marketing) is throwing it in your face that you should be “merry and bright”. That’s not always possible, but try to find the joy and create a space that makes you feel at least a little “merrier and brighter”. Don’t forget to make time for the self-care that you need.
xoA
Over To You
How do you practice self-care during the holiday season? Do you already use these tips or do you have something to add? Share your favorite holiday season self-care advice or traditions in the comments below. I am always on the hunt for new ways to spice the season up, so I would love to hear from you!
4 thoughts on “How to Practice Self-Care During the Holiday Season”
Always hard to make yourself a priority in the holiday season! Good reminder and good read! ?
It’s hard to do, but SO important! We should plan an annual post-holidays Refuge visit with our girls!
I empathize with the dry skin section!
Cold weather, arid climates, frequent handwashing during flu season, and even decreased circulation to skin for heat preservation really take their toll. All of these things and more contribute to that dreaded feeling of having dry, crusty& crackly fingers. Guilty!
Hydrating from within is a really great way to help with the dry skin! The moisture that exists in skin care products is helpful, but replacing lost water is going to make those efforts to rehydrate your skin go even further.
OO! Great advice! Hydrating with drinking water is another great self-care tip, and something that we are all guilty of forgetting when we are busy! Thank you for this comment. *takes sip of water immediately*