This time of year is lovely but it can also be a lot!
When I think back a few years when I was still working in London, going to multiple Christmas do's for work (some fun some not so). I remember that as December used to roll in I would feel a sense of trepidation. Work wise there would always be additional pressure as somehow every deadline suddenly got even shorter because you know everything stops at Christmas! This slightly toxic combination of working at a manic pace and late nights out drinking would inevitably take its toll. I would get some kind of revolting Flu/Tonsillitis every year without fail and arrive at home for Christmas ready for a sleep not more merriment.
For those with children I imagine this time of year has that same marathon feeling. Does anyone not know anyone at the moment whose got a flu/cold style bug? Parties, concerts, elf on the shelf, snazzy advent calendars, experiences and the continued challenges of getting kids into school for just one more week all mount up.
And all this pressure we put on ourselves? We apply it all at the end of the year, in the depth of winter when the weather as has been delightfully demonstrated this week is cold and sometimes miserable its no wonder is it that we're all tired.
This year we may have inadvertently added additional pressures to the mix, the first proper Covid free Christmas, the one perfect day in this miserable winter of discontent. It is understandable then if we're carrying this expectation along with low level tiredness with us that we may feel conflicted about trying to create the "perfect" Christmas day.
I am urging you therefore to give yourself a break. I was forced to do this myself this week. I tried to work through but found myself going slower and slower and then disaster my heating failed (hello -6 degrees) and I got ill and completely lost my voice. A hypnotherapist with no voice is not functional so I had to stop. It was super frustrating I can't lie, I like to be busy I like to be doing, moving, getting things done but as I have seen time and time again when you try to push through like that your body is invariably keeping the score and lets you know what it needs in this case rest!
As I write this post we have just about a week to go until the "big day" and I know that in itself can add pressure but try and take a breather this week and remember that Christmas is not the finish line of a sprint race it is a season. A season that will pass and return again and will sometimes be brilliant and other times lonely and tough but a season that in itself is not worth breaking yourself or making yourself ill over for the sake of one "perfect" day.
As the year draws to a close I am taking a break. I hope you get the time to do the same and have the Christmas you both need and wish for!
I'll be back for more in 2023!
Liz x
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