Mentally Healthy Holiday Habits - 5 Ways to Choose You This Season
Mentally Healthy Holiday Habits - 5 Ways to Choose You This Season
Do you want to look back on the holidays this year with no regrets? Are you concerned that you could turn towards excess? Enjoying the holidays and staying healthy doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Here we give you five ways to have a great holiday season and still put your health first.
1) Plan Ahead
The holiday time usually means a break from schedules, but if you truly want to prioritize your health, taking some time ahead to put a plan in place is crucial. To clarify this for yourself contemplate the following questions:
What social gatherings have you been invited to?
Which ones do you actually want to go to?
How many can you realistically fit in without compromising on self-care or putting yourself in danger of falling into old habits?
Which are more likely to trigger intense emotional reactions or surround you with grating personalities? (Family reunions are the first that come to mind.)
Sit down and map out your ideal holiday festive schedule and only confirm attendance to those you want to go to. Now is your time to put yourself first. After that, you can think about how long you want to attend each one and what your exit strategy will look like when you start to feel overwhelmed.
2) Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
There is a reason why the Latin phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" (a healthy mind in a healthy body) is still thrown around today. Exercise will always and forever be a key component to physical and psychological well being. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or plan for a marathon if you're not used to regularly getting active. Using this time to explore different sports or go for walks in the fresh air will do wonders for your mindset and steel your resolve when faced with temptation. What activity do you think you could try? Who knows, it might even kickstart a lifelong love for sports, running, or yoga!
3) Be Mindful
The concept of mindfulness is often thrown around without being truly understood. At its core, it is simply being truly in the moment, intensely observant of your surroundings and your emotional response to them. In moments of intense mindfulness, the past and future cease to exist as you become wholly immersed in the present.
It is a fundamental concept of many types of therapy that the only time we can forge new habits and become the version of ourselves that we want to be is in the here and now. Practicing mindfulness and incorporating it into your daily life doesn't require much time, money, or fancy applications. Eating is a great way to practice mindfulness and curb holiday excess simultaneously.
Sit back from your meal, observe its different components, imagine their texture, how they taste, even think about where it came from, or how the dinner itself was made. Slowly lift your fork and place the first bite into your mouth deliberately. Savor it. Did it taste as you imagined? What adjectives would you use to describe it? After the first bite, stop and observe how your body reacts. Do you feel fuller? Are you excited to eat more?
Another way to practice mindfulness is by listening to music before or after a party. Taking five minutes to connect with yourself while listening to your favorite song and being present can help you prepare or unwind before or afterward.
Mindfulness can not only transform ordinary moments into sensory delights but can make you aware when you're more tempted by urges to break your healthy habits.
4) Manage Sleep
Lots of time off work can lead to a disrupted sleep pattern. When our sleep patterns lose consistency, we become more cognitively vulnerable. When we are highly cognitively vulnerable, we are prone to make decisions that are not in our long-term benefit or that clash with our previously established goals. As enticing as it can seem to stay up late for that movie marathon, play video games until your thumbs bleed, or socialize into the wee hours just because you can. If you truly want to prioritize your health, you need to be your own best friend and avoid those temptations. Establishing a nighttime routine, including what time you go to bed and when you turn off all screens, will decrease appetite fluctuations, improve mood stability, and increase feelings of wellbeing. It is also the perfect opportunity to incorporate a daily meditation practice into your routine or invest in essential oils or incense to promote feelings of relaxation before sleeping. One way to relax before sleeping is by trying bedtime yoga.
5. Find Support
Staying healthy over the holiday period is no easy feat. By communicating with your nearest and dearest about your desire to do things differently this year, you tap into a well of strength for when you have weak moments. You will also prevent uncomfortable conversations with people who don't understand why you're not drinking, partying, or using substances like you used to. If you are a natural people pleaser and have a tendency to go with the flow, then a sudden behavior change can cause conflicts that you may struggle to deal with emotionally. You'd be surprised by how well people respond when you speak openly and honestly ahead of time as to how you want to enjoy your holiday period. If they can't respect or understand that, they are doing you the favor of showing you which relationships you need to reevaluate.
There you have it! Five foolproof ways to take care of yourself, focus on your health, and still have a good time. Remember, the holidays do not need to have a "now or never" mindset. You can spend them however you want and what you want is to choose your health, happiness, and future. Take this time to focus on how you want to start the new year. Choose you.
If the holiday season has been particularly triggering for you, or you are worried about a loved one's drinking or substance use, don't hesitate to reach out to a member of the Walker Center for a free, confidential consultation. You can also subscribe to our blog, where you can find a wealth of information about drinking, substance use, and mental health.
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