Self-Care and Treating At Christmas
Ways to manage wellbeing and stress
We all know the importance of self-care, and during the build-up to Christmas, it’s all the more important. However, often the festive tasks can snowball, and before you know it, you’re juggling all the usual daily tasks along with present shopping and wrapping, decorating the house and tree, planning the food shopping to enjoy over Christmas, not to mention the extra time needed to attend festive gatherings and parties. No wonder so many of us feel burnt out by the time the ‘big day’ arrives.
So how can you pace things and make sure you don’t create too much work for yourself? It's easy for things to escalate and although you might say the same things to yourself each year such as – next year I’ll do it differently or next time I’m going to shop earlier or try to just do less. Somehow, we find ourselves in a similar boat, trying to do it all. With all of that said, a certain level of Christmas excitement can be exciting – it only becomes an issue when you start to feel an unhelpful shade of stress, when the tasks start to feel like too much.
Preventative Measures: Mindset
The best way to manage your wellbeing over the festive period is to start by checking in with yourself about your expectations. It’s easy to go into auto-pilot and do the same as last year or to even say “yes” to everything. Remember to be kind to yourself and notice which tasks, events and parties – ones you’re invited to and ones you’re hosting – that you truly want to attend or organise. It’s about choosing the things you really want to do over Christmas and deciding whether doing all these things are realistic. It’s then about learning how to say no and perhaps even doing things a bit differently.
Reimagine the Christmas You Really Want
Consider reflecting on your hopes for Christmas. Writing down your values, needs and desires for the season ahead at the start of a journal is a helpful way to keep a record of how you wish to approach Christmas. (You might want to do this with your loved ones.) Ask yourself – what can I do differently this year to lessen the stress? Is this Christmas routine really essential? How can I share the load?
Make sure you allow enough space and support for each task or event. Sometimes it might also be about lowering your expectations a little and just selecting a shorter schedule or to-do list and just focusing on the things that are most important to you and your family. It can also help to drop perfectionism or comparisons so you can start to experience Christmas in a more true and mindful way. Ask yourself – is this really the best way for you?
Drop the Guilt
It might sound difficult to start doing Christmas differently. You may have feelings of guilt that you’re not doing enough or perhaps friends, family or social media are causing these feelings of guilt. However, it’s important for you to do what works for you. Also, ask yourself, how can I find extra support? Can I share the cooking and hosting tasks? Can I distribute the planning and mental load differently in other ways? Do I really need to buy and post cards this year? How about trying Secret Santa for the adults and just buying gifts for the kids?
Give Yourself the Gift of Wellness
Try to make sure there’s time for you amid the festive tasks. Diarise time for you whether that’s a yoga class, a soak in the hot tub with candles, time to journal or time to read a book – whatever brings you joy – just make space for small moments of joy and pleasure and relaxation. Things that will help you fill up your cup.
Make time for you each day during the build-up – that might be a walk in nature or even booking in for a massage or ‘acupuncture for stress’ session. Did you know there are several acupuncture points that can help ease stress and boost relaxation as well as support immunity and sleep? A session a week or two prior to Christmas can be a great way to manage your self-care during the festivities.
Many of our customers gift themselves a treatment during the festive period and others make sure they drop hints to their loved ones. Remember, you can use a Treat gift card to use on massages, beauty treatments, acupuncture, pregnancy services and therapies for health needs.
Go Gently into Christmas
It goes without saying that here are Treat Norwich, we are big advocates for self-care. Treat yourself during the run up to Christmas – whether that’s diarising small little me-time moments each day or perhaps a bigger treat such as a treatment. Or if you’re looking for Christmas shopping inspiration, consider giving a loved one a treatment with us.
You can purchase gift cards for loved ones here at Treat-Norwich.
Managing stress before and during Christmas might take a little readjustment and planning beforehand but once you’ve revaluated what’s really important and you’ve put in some all-important boundaries, the rest is simple. Through pacing yourself, sharing the load, doing things your way and having a couple of relaxation tools up your sleeve – you’ll be onto a more enjoyable festive period. Another way to think about self-care at Christmas time is that you’re giving yourself a gift too – the way you engage with your own self-care and expectations, can become a way to improve the overall quality of your festivities. Remember it's about quality, not quantity.
How Our Gift Cards Work
Our gift cards start from £35. Once you have purchased a gift card online, we’ll send you a gift card code straight to your email inbox for you to send on or print instantly. The person receiving the online gift card will need to bring in the voucher code when they have their treatment as payment.
Give the gift of wellness: Call Us today to Book a Pre-Christmas Treatment or to buy a Gift Card for a Loved One.
