Holiday Self-Care & Support Guide

If every day, you make a little time for yourself first thing, you can move through your day with more grace and intention. Your morning routine might only be 5 minutes long to start, but even that will help. Use the time to sit quietly with a cup of tea, meditate, journal, walk, or include other activities that feed your body, mind, heart, and soul. Another way to do this is by starting your day with staying off your phone at least 30 minutes. Immediately going to your phone can drain your energy rather than build your energy. 

Listen to music with candles burning or just sitting quietly in candlelight. As the days get darker, add light to your day.

Go outside and take a walk. Bundle up if it’s cold and head out with the intention of noticing the magic. Don’t worry about burning calories or tracking steps, just enjoy yourself. Even a 10 minute walk has stress reducing benefits.

Once you figure out what you can spend on extras like holiday gifts, events, and other holiday things, honour that. If you splurge now, you pay even more later. And later comes sooner than you think.

Cancel some of your planned activities and make room for holiday magic to unfold. Take advantage of having less scheduled commitments to follow your heart.

Give your body and brain a chance to recharge on those go-go-go holiday marathon days. Even 20 minutes will make a big difference.

Close your computer and other digital devices and curl up with a good book. Instead of reading something for self-improvement or work, read something for your heart.

Call or spend time with the person that makes you laugh harder than anyone else.

Emotions can run high during the holidays, but much of what goes through our heads never needs to be said out-loud. Instead, write it down. Write down how you are feeling, and what makes you happy, sad, angry, or frustrated. Putting it on paper gives you a chance to clear your mind and move through your day with less bottled up stress. 

Finding the perfect gift is often stressful and expensive. Instead, find a meaningful gift. Give a friend your favorite book and write something to them on the inside cover. Give someone a beautiful vase you never use full of flowers, or look for other things you can pass on with love.

If you aren’t sure how hyper-connectivity is affecting your life, try to remember the last conversation you had that wasn’t interrupted by a ding or a ring. Or, look around any restaurant, grocery store, or waiting room and see what percentage of people are looking into a screen. If you want to scale back, check out this guide to internet-lite holidays.

Directing more of our attention towards gratitude for the things that make our lives wonderful is scientifically proven to make us healthier, more energetic, less stressed and anxious, and help us get better sleep. Try to find one thing each day you’re grateful for.

There are so many opportunities to give and so many people and organizations in need. Pick something close to your heart and give the way you want to give instead of how you think you are supposed to give.

Be creative. Bake or cook. Write a poem, start a book, get out the finger paints and a big piece of paper, and express yourself. Make. Create. Enjoy the process with no expectations.

Frustrated? Breathe in. Breathe out. Worried? Breathe in. Breathe out. Overwhelmed? Breathe in. Breathe out. Confused? Breathe in. Breathe out. Exhausted? Breathe in. Breathe out. Trying take three deep sighs in a row. Start there and you can often avoid over-thinking and over-reacting

There are benefits to moving through life, work, and relationships with a softer step, a gentler look, and a lighter heart. If you want to be light, you have to let go.

If you’ve already overdone it, consider a full stop. Sometimes backing off isn’t enough. Take a whole day to yourself and vow to do nothing more than take care of yourself all day long.

This list is by: Courtney Carver https://bemorewithless.com/take-care/  25 Simple Ways to Take Care of Yourself Over the Holidays

Don’t rely on impromptu connecting – set up a time to meet with someone and suggest an easy activity – go for a walk, share a snack or meal time together, play a board game, watch a move together. 

Consider reaching out to and connecting with someone you haven’t spoken to for a while. Send a simply “Hi. Was thinking of you message” by text.

Give the other person what has become the rarest and purest form of generosity – your undivided attention. Put your phone away or silence it – don’t let it distract you.

Show real, deep curiosity about the other person’s life.

Consider showing appreciation (thank others!) and doing “acts of service” for someone. An act of service is doing something that the other person has to do but you want to give them a break. For example, it is the other person’s turn to do the dishes but you do them because you have the time and they have been very busy recently.

Find something you enjoy doing and do that with other people.

Say hello to people around you. Including service workers. Research shows that simply saying hi to a cashier or other worker brightens not only their day but yours as well.

This may be a great time to look at what new groups or activities you can join for the new year. One way to do this is to check out the City of Winnipeg Leisure Guide for their winter programs.

Family time can be tricky for many people over the holidays. Students can struggle with family expectations, especially if they still have some academic responsibilities to attend to. Sometimes family time can be a major source of stress for students. Use your knowledge of your family and the people you’re likely to see to inform a strategy that can work for everyone. 

If you know that someone in your family is going to ask you about a sensitive topic, consider how you can re-direct the conversation in a kind and genuine fashion. For example:

• Family member: “I haven’t seen you since the summer. How are things going at university?”
• Student: “Going okay. How are things going for you? I remember that you were ……………..is that still happening?”

If you know that your family are going to expect you to attend certain family events, and you don’t want to disappoint them or become embroiled in a conflict even though you don’t want to go, consider all the options available to - not simply going or not going. For example, can you go but for a reduced period of time. Consider developing an “exit strategy” you can use when you feel that it is time to go  (“I wish I could stay longer but I’m feeling really drained and need to get home.”) 

While we hope you don’t become involved in conflict with family during the holidays (or any time), we know this can happen. Each of us feels different permissions in how we respond to conflict in family. One strategy you can consider using is to end the interaction when the discussion is “heated” (i.e., highly stressed) and kindly and firmly indicate you need to leave but will connect with them at a later time. For example, “I’m feeling really upset right now and don’t know what else to say so I think it is a good time for me to go. Maybe we can talk about this another time.”