In today’s world where we’re seemingly forced to stay connected and always ‘on’ – it’s hard to take time to ourselves. This is especially true around the holidays, when obligations tend to double and our social calendars are full to the brim.
We talk a lot about balancing our personal and work lives, but balance isn’t always a given within our personal lives themselves. We have to strike a balance between keeping up with personal appointments and duties and finding time to indulge in ourselves.
Spend Time in Nature
For those really needing to get away from the holiday stress this year, a great way to spend the holiday solo without feeling any pangs of sadness or nostalgia is to break out of your usual holiday setting.
Go on a solo camping trip or maybe a long road trip!
Spending time in nature not only brings us back to the things that matter, allows us the time and space to reflect inward instead of prioritizing our availability to others.
Disconnect
Maybe spending time with friends and loved ones is important to you, and you just need to carve out an hour for yourself every day to maintain sanity.
A great way to implement this into your daily routine during the holidays is to start going for daily walks by yourself. Start your day with some alone time, or maybe just keep a mid-day walk as your back pocket option for whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed.
However you choose to disconnect from your setting and obligations, don’t forget to disconnect from technology as well. We may be physically removed from a space, but if our phone is blowing up, we are not able to fully take the time to ourselves that we need.
Find Balance
A great way to find balance during the crazy holiday season is to remember that you don’t have to participate in or agree to everything. With family coming into town, or stressful travel plans, or a different holiday party every weekend – oftentimes, our days get filled for us and suddenly the entire holiday is spent on things you feel you’re ‘supposed’ to do.
Everyone feels the stress of demands during the holiday, but it takes courage and dedication to ourselves to try and change it. Finding balance could also mean simply switching to a more peaceful activity, like staying home and learning how to make hot cocoa from scratch versus going out to a big event.
The most important thing to remember is that taking the time and space to prioritize ourselves and maintain balance during the holidays comes from a place of taking care of ourselves isn’t reflective of how we feel about our loved ones.
Happy disconnected holidays!