Five Tips for Healthy Stress Relief

Despite the chilly tem­per­a­tures and increase in dark skies, the Decem­ber hol­i­day sea­son is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the smells and the music and the dec­o­ra­tions. I love time with my fam­i­ly and send­ing cards and tak­ing part in the tra­di­tions that have been ingrained in me through­out my life. I love the excite­ment and won­der of it all!

All sounds pret­ty mag­i­cal, does­n’t it? And it is, but that’s not the whole sto­ry. The images you see in mag­a­zines and on tele­vi­sion of “per­fect” hol­i­day scenes — of snow­balls and hot cocoa and match­ing sweaters — also don’t tell the whole story.

While the hol­i­days are in fact, one of my favorite times of the year, they can also be a wee bit stress­ful. Plan­ning trips, find­ing the per­fect gift, the end­less hol­i­day par­ties and oblig­a­tions that all require extra bak­ing or cook­ing… it often adds up to less sleep, less nour­ish­ing food, and more (often MANY more) items on the to-do list.

So can you have your cake and eat it too? Can you enjoy the mag­ic of the sea­son, tack­le your to-do list AND keep your san­i­ty? I can’t promise mir­a­cles (I’m not San­ta Claus!) but these 5 tips can start you in the right direction.

1. Set a dai­ly pri­or­i­ty. Whether it’s the night before, or as you fin­ish your morn­ing tea, decide what the one (or maybe two) things are that are non-nego­tiables and plan your day around check­ing them off the list. That way, no mat­ter how many items remain on the list, you can feel the sweet accom­plish­ment of check­ing the box off as completed.
2. Move your body! Yes, I know get­ting in an hour-long spin class isn’t always fea­si­ble with extra oblig­a­tions on the cal­en­dar, but find­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for authen­tic move­ment is ALWAYS do-able. Before shop­ping, do two laps around the mall to scope out the stores and get in some steps. Park far away and take the stairs. And noth­ing gets the blood flow­ing quite like a dance par­ty in the kitchen while you bake your 9 mil­lionth tray of cookies!
3. Nour­ish your body when you can. Hol­i­day par­ties aren’t often high­light­ed by kale and flax seed, but chances are you aren’t par­ty­ing from dawn until dusk every day. Nev­er leave home with­out a snack and brown-bag your  lunch when you can. Fill your plate with veg­gies, pro­tein, and healthy fats, and then when you find your­self face-to-face with the choco­late fon­due foun­tain, enjoy it stress-free know­ing you are doing your best to nour­ish your body the major­i­ty of the time.
4. Sched­ule some me-time at least once a week. While it would be love­ly to start and end every day at the spa, that’s just not prac­ti­cal. What is prac­ti­cal is plan­ning an hour of time just for you once a week, and putting it on the cal­en­dar as non-nego­tiable. Reserve the guest room at a friend’s house to take a nap, enjoy a man­i­cure between errands, or take your­self out for a meal, just on your own.
5. Keep it real. When things feel like they are just too much to han­dle, it can be help­ful to pause, take a deep breath, and put it all in per­spec­tive. Is the world REALLY going to end if your rib­bon isn’t curled? What about if the icing isn’t per­fect on the cook­ies? It will not. Take a breath, look around to soak in the mag­ic that is already in your life, and move on.

Cheers to a hol­i­day sea­son of health, hap­pi­ness, and healthy stress relief!