7 Ways to Manage the Stress of the Holidays
Self-care is the buzzword of the year, but the physical, emotional, spiritual and financial stress during winter season can be crippling. Here are seven ways to manage the stress of the holiday season.
1. Listen to Your Body
Your body doesn’t lie to you. She never has and never will, so part of self-care is learning how to tune in to the information that is freely provided to you by you on a regular basis. Start with a morning check in before you even get out of bed. Take a few minutes to fill your lungs all the way and release all the energy that might have pooled in one particular area. Where do you need to direct your internal love today? What is your body expressing as a need? It is more water, more stretching, a chiropractic adjustment to help with your headaches or stiff neck, more lubrication (ashy knees, creaky shoulders, dry vagina...it all applies!)? She’ll let you know what she needs. Are you paying attention, though?
2. Edit Your Energy Output
It takes an incredible about of energy to be present and genuinely engaged with those around us--especially during the holidays. It might be a difficult decision, but by limiting your travel and visits during the holiday gives you more quality time. Ditching your sanity to squeeze in long car-rides to all of the different family gatherings is not worth it. Pick a few or one or none at all. You don’t have to diffuse yourself in order to show your love.
3. Audit Your Finances
Likewise, money is a form of energy that goes only where you permit it to go. It’s never fun to worry about how to pay the water bill or figure out how to buy your child a holiday gift. So, focus less on gifting disposable items for all of the people and more on those that are nurturing and nourishing for a few people who really appreciate your effort. If you’re really worried about making sure someone receives an actual item, create your own holiday card, (double points) send a letter with a donation receipt made out in your beloved’s name or choose a gift that grows, like an amaryllis bulb (these kits can be found for around $8 at hardware and gardening stores!). And, if you’re really keen on gifting, our apothecary goods are organic and created for different seasons of a woman’s life. If you want to save more energy, send a Sage Woman Care Package, a seasonally-curated box with goods to remind a woman to refill her cup.
4. Drink Your Tea
Bring on the warmth. Making a cup of tea is warming and nourishing to your system, depending on the blend. We love herbal teas because they gently nurture the body with vitamins and minerals, plus they taste beautiful. My favorites during the winter are our Cozy blend, Chamomile Chai and Slow Down. There is ceremony to the process, too. It’s just short enough to keep your engaged and just long enough for the ritual to feel special. So, boil your water, steep your herbs, and slowly enjoy the steam as it licks your face right before you sip. Your body and nerves will thank you for this quiet, renewing time.
5. Spend Some Extra Time Loving Your Body
Touch all the places gently that you normally don’t think of fondly. When you get out of the shower or bath, use some luxurious body oil (I really love our Sandalwood + Jasmine Body Oil) to anoint yourself. Start at your feet, even your toes, and slowly move up your legs, to your trunk, your belly and bottom, then the arms, neck, and shoulders, directing all of the motion to your heart. Tell each of these hard-working parts that you are grateful to them for protecting you, carrying your babes, and giving you shelter. Amen.
6. Deepen Your Emotional Awareness
As the year draws to an end and there is less light, we naturally go inward. We have access to our intuition when we notice our body’s sensations the moment they are expressed. One way to deepen one’s emotional awareness is to work with cards.
The Mother’s Wisdom Deck is a great tool to help focus your intentions while directing your attention to common themes in motherhood and womanhood. Start by writing down an intention (a goal or core feeling you desire) in your journal. Pull a card from the deck, journal about your immediate feelings, and see where the lesson takes you.
7. Deepen Your Roots To Reach Your Highest Potential
Follow the annual ritual of the perennial plants and trees by deepening your own roots. The more rooted we become in our own awareness, the better the chance we have of reaching our highest potential.
That's why we've created the Sage Woman Journal: 12 Month Guide Through Seasons + Cycles. The Sage Woman Journal is a spiral-bound, full-color journal to guide women through the seasons and cycles that are innately natural to us. This multi-year journal is for the woman who is ready to dig deeper and reach her highest self.
With soul-prompts to help you check in with your physical, emotional and spiritual body, you will come to understand your own rhythm and to develop and deepen your awareness of your ever-unfolding transformation.
