How to Look After Your Well-being During the Holiday Season

Written by Ruby Deevoy Ruby Deevoy is an award-nominated health, science and wellbeing journalist who contributes to publications such as New Scientist, The Telegraph, The Times, Stylist, Natural Health and many more. She is the UK's first and only ever mainstream CBD columnist (Top Sante magazine) and CBD consultant for international CBD and cannabis brands and clinics. @RDeevoy

‘tis the season to be…stressed! 

While Christmas songs blaring on the radio might have you believe differently, a survey conducted by Healthline found that a huge 62% of respondents felt their stress levels were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ elevated during the festive period.

Of course, there’s plenty of joy to be had too. But so many of us have got into the habit of feeling weighed down by the financial burden of buying gifts and feeding extended family and guests throughout the month, as well as sometimes having to come into close contact with strained relationships and meeting deadlines before work shuts down. Because of this, the only way we might be able to step out of this seasonal stress is to find ways to step out of situations that stress us, and re-wire our brains to focus on the heartening aspects instead.

How to look after your well-being during the holiday season

The best way to do this is to look after your well-being during the holiday season. But this doesn’t have to mean taking long baths, meditating or going off for spa days. Self-care can take quite different forms, some of which tie in perfectly with the hustle and bustle of Christmas.

We asked NLP coach and founder of The Yes I Can Method™ Academy, Rebecca Lockwood, for her tips on how to look after your well-being during the holiday period.

“As the festive season hits, we can easily find ourselves in a flurry of overwhelm which can take us away from enjoying the festive season with loved ones. Aiming to be organised with a busy schedule is key to reducing overwhelm and anxiety during this time,” explains Rebecca.

“If you have a partner sharing your diary digitally can help you both stay on the same page. Having a digital diary on a device can be helpful to ensure you have access to it at all times and you can also set up reminders so you don't forget things. This can help lift some of the weight off your shoulders”

Rebecca points out that family dynamics can be tricky when coming into the festive season. “It's often a season we see family members that we haven't seen all year, and not everyone gets on. How do we keep the peace, whilst also keeping our own personal peace?” she says. 

“It's important to remember that you may not actually want to see everyone, so don't. Set some boundaries if it is really that uncomfortable for you. Remember that everyone has their own opinions and that means a lot more about them than it does about you.”

The Gift of Giving

According to research, those who volunteer their time (perhaps the greatest gift of all) have lower mortality rates, lower risk of heart disease, greater functional ability and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer.

Expressing gratitude also has remarkable effects, resulting in an immediate and enormous rise in happiness scores (greater than that from any other intervention) with benefits lasting for a month. Giving a gift, especially one accompanied by a meaningful card, can have much the same effect.

This Christmas, try to reframe the act of gift-giving as something that is feeding your soul – a gift to yourself as much as the other person. And perhaps consider ways of giving that are more valuable to both of you than spending loads of money on the latest trends. Create present ideas that offer the gift of your time; make an ‘act of kindness’ calendar and have you and your family members pick something every day to do for others; and consider making as many purchases as possible from charities.

Learn how to appreciate life to the fullest 

As the year comes to a close, we all have the opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved, all we have to be grateful for and all we have to look forward to. In doing so, we can learn to fully appreciate life.

Focus on joy

Shift your focus onto the things that have brought you joy over the past year. Write them down, add them to your list each night (before spritzing your bed with our Sleep Well pillow mist) and read them regularly.

Do something brave

There are so many things we can do in life to enhance our own presence and experience, but one of the most powerful is to do something that scares you. Better yet, something for the greater good. Follow your passion, be bold and know your potential to make the world a better place.

Reflect and repeat

Look back and remember the times you really felt grateful for your life, and times you feel grateful for now even if you couldn’t notice the benefit then. Who were you with? What were you doing? Why were you happy? Answer those questions and find ways to bring the core of these moments into your future.

Delight in the little things

We often look for the big things we have to be thankful for, but it’s the tiny, everyday actions, choices and surroundings that make us whole. Decide to notice and delight in laughter, birdsong, a phone call with a friend, holding someone’s hand – all the small things that make life magical.

Say thank you

Who do you have in your life to be grateful for? Do they know how much you appreciate them? Probably not. So, tell them! Write letters to your loved ones and tell them how much you care, or why not exchange a couples massage with your partner using our active muscle therapy balm to show how much you care?

Of course, a little pampering never goes amiss when you get the chance, so why not enhance feelings of bliss and eliminate stress by incorporating some CBD into your self-care? Our 1000mg Face Mask is perfect for a quick pre-party pick-me-up. Our 2000mg Hand & Body Oil is what your poor dry hands are yearning for after spending hours cooking Christmas dinner, while taking our Isolex Oil Drops every day will help everything flow with ease…