5 Ways to Destress this Holiday Season

Let’s face it the holidays can be stressful.

Between finishing up year end at work, juggling holiday gathering, family, and loads of expectations it’s a lot!

To help you find some balance this holiday season, I’m sharing 5 ways you can destress over the next few weeks!

1. Talk a walk. This one is especially great when you have family or friends over and you need a little reset. Just excuse yourself and get some fresh air. The sun on your face, the fresh (hopefully crisp) air will do a world of good for your mental health.

2. Meditate. You’ve heard me talk endlessly about the benefits of meditation…and this is the time we ALL need to meditate. Breathe it all in, let it all go.

3. Movement. Move your body in some way every single day. This not only will help you sweat out the holiday cocktails from the office Christmas party, but will help you reset and reframe your mind and allow you to really enjoy this season.

4. Let go of expectations. People love to transfer their expectations onto you, especially this time of year. Let that shit go. It’s not yours. You only have to live up to your expectations for yourself, no one else’s (that includes your parents). The holidays are such a magical time, allow yourself the chance to soak it all in and let go of anything that is not truly serving you.

5. Just say no. I’m giving you full permission to say NO this holiday season. Say no to the extra holiday party, drinks after work, the community event, a family gathering, whatever it is…if it’s not a hell yes for you, then it’s a no. Let yourself off the hook.

I’ve had the privilege to work with hundreds of clients over the years, and have seen that much of our stress stems from our desire to live up to other people’s expectations. We get so wrapped up in meeting everyone else’s expectations, going to all the parties, seeing all the family, doing all the things that we forget to meet our own expectations.

At the end of the day you have to honor yourself and do what is truly best for you.

So I encourage you this holiday season to utilize the 5 tools above to keep your stress low, let go of the expectations, and really enjoy this magical season!

Photo By Jontel Chere

EFT Tapping: what is it, how to use it, and how it can transform your life

This is a follow up blog from my May 11, 2020 blog post on 6 ways to deal with anxiety

In that May 11th blog post I briefly touched on a technique called tapping, and I wanted to dive a bit further into here for you. 

Tapping. Emotional freedom technique tapping can seriously help anxiety as well as many other mental health conditions. EFT tapping helps to balance out the energy in the body, and alleviate emotional and physical pain.

Tapping is a combination of Eastern and Western medicinal principles and it works by altering the brain, body and energy systems all at the same time. This technique is also referred to as “psychological acupressure”. 

How does it work? Tapping is exactly what it sounds like - you tap specific meridian points on the body to aid in relief from pain, trauma, stress and anxiety. This therapy has also been known to help individuals move through fears and achieve big goals. (sounds amazing!!)

How often do I have to do it? There is no real answer here, it is unique to each individual. Many find it beneficial to tap for a short period of time (on specifically targeted meridian points) 2-3 times per day. It’s important to listen to your body and increase or decrease as needed. 

This therapy can help you work through past trauma, limit or eliminate stress and anxiety in your present, and help you reach your biggest goals. The best part…you already have everything you need for this therapy. No tools, no expensive therapist or teacher…just you! This is a tool (similar to meditation) that you can do anywhere.

Here is a chart with the meridian points often used for tapping.

For more information on EFT Tapping check out this article here