For many, images of a wonderful holiday season include a perfectly decorated home; wonderfully laid out meals; homemade cookies; and happy, grateful and calm parents.
The image of perfection is a delusion that feeds stress and anxiety. The reality is that cookies burn, frozen turkeys get left in the freezer and life is far from perfect.
To manage the ups and downs of the holiday season, it is important to make choices that help you stay healthy and well. Here are five fast tips that can help you thrive during the holidays.
Sleep
One of the best ways to stay healthy, manage stress and get things done is to get a good night’s sleep.
Instead of staying up all night wrapping, buy gift bags and enlist some help from your partner or parent. This helps to make it a manageable task rather than pulling an all-nighter and being frazzled.
Eat healthy food
With parties and cookies everywhere, take some time to plan healthy office snacks, and healthy quick meals. This will ensure that your tummy and stress levels are at their best. Carry an apple, healthy granola bar or carrots with you so you can avoid that last minute temptation to the drive-through as you head to the mall.
Stick to your holiday budget
Create a budget and stick to it.
For many it takes the fun out of the holidays but it also creates a more peaceful January. Instead of blowing the budget on Christmas gifts for three kids, set a budget and tell your children. Of course, they may complain, but ask them what their favourite gift had been from the year before. They will probably not remember what their big gift or favourite gift had been.
Get active
It is an important way to manage stress. During the holidays it is easy to create excuses to not work out. This year, make a commitment to keep to your regular routine. You can also make exercise part of the festivities! Meet friends for a walk then go for lunch or a coffee.
Make time for down time
Create opportunities for down time. Before the holidays even begin, grab your calendar and book your down time. Pick a few hours here and there that you or your family can be ‘off’ and stick to it.
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Creating wellness during the holidays also means taking an honest look at both the good times and difficult times and determining how to get through them. For many, the holidays are not a time of joy; they bring back sad memories and create a further sense of loss in their lives. In these cases it is important to remember that Niagara College offers EAP counseling services.
Your Wellness Watch Committee is committed to increasing awareness and participation in healthy living and supporting employee relationships in order to promote a healthy environment within the College and our local communities.
Written by Michelle MacIntosh, counsellor on behalf of the Wellness Watch Committee.
