self-care at christmas

The Christmas Season is well and truly upon us, wouldn't you say?

The shops are filling up with Christmas shoppers and our agendas are getting blocked left, right and centre with Christmas parties and get-togethers.

It can all be a bit hectic but, you know what, the buzz is great. It keeps us high and our energies lifted. Isn't that right?

Or do you get a sense of overwhelm at this time of year? There's so much to do, so much going on, everything crammed into a few weeks of craziness.

That's how I usually tend to feel. Overwhelm and stress.

But not this year.

So what has happened this year? Have I cancelled Christmas?

Well. What's so different this year is that I have been practising self-care and self-love for quite a number of months now and they've become a part of my daily routine. And it's helping to make what is usually an overwhelming and crazy couple of weeks of buying gifts, sending cards, arranging menus, decorating the house and tree... into a period that feels more calm and under control.

Did you know that stress saps your energy, causes fatigue, and increases negative thoughts that can contribute to anxious feelings? If you're constantly under stress, through work or your personal life, you're probably nodding your head right now.

Look. It's impossible to avoid stress. To be stressed is to be alive. But there's positive stress (eustress) and then there's negative stress (distress). And our bodies tend to be exposed to too much distress and not enough eustress.

One way to mitigate negative stress is through self-care. Practising self-care as part of your daily routine will help you live a happier (and fuller) life and reduce your risk of developing health problems.

But if you know that you're running on empty and are already caught up with all the overwhelm that Christmas can bring, you might be thinking: "Come on Viv, it's too close to Christmas now to change things and get all chilled and what-have-you"

Well I have some good news. It's never too late.

You don't have to devote hours every day to self-care, it can be as little as 5 minutes. For example when you notice and feel that things are getting too much you can just step away for 5 short minutes and quietly practise a self-care technique like mindful breathing.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, you can start to introduce self-care into your daily life and, believe me, you'll notice a real difference in your daily life, in your energy, in your perspective.

So why not start today? Why not start right now?

I have a very short booklet for you to download for free that introduces you to 3 steps to self-care. All you need to do is take the first (most important) step to introducing self-care into your life by clicking here >

Viv xx