7 Simple Ways to Relax During the Holidays

It’s that kind of week, isn’t it? Christmas is in 4 days, and whether you celebrate or not, you feel the Santa craziness.

Now, I love Christmas, and I’m a little appalled that it’s December 21st and I haven’t watched any Christmas movies and I’ve barely tapped into the Christmas music. (Scratch that – I watched 12 Dates of Christmas with Zack Morris…ahem…Mark-Paul Gosselaar last night.) But my love for Christmas aside, I cannot deny that it is a crazy-making time of year.

It’s like a decadent mug of salted caramel hot chocolate with bourbon. Kind of awesome but also just a lot of flavor all at once. (Actually, that sounds really good. Just like Christmas. That’s why we keep doing it every year despite the post-holiday hangover.)

But if you’re feeling a little frazzled and you need to find some simple ways to relax during the holidays, here are a few things you can do:

Meditate for 10 minutes.
Shift your energy.
Reconnect with yourself.
Dance.
Go to bed early.
Start your morning with a 10 minute walk outside.
Make friends with the crazy. (see below)

Let your crazy be your BFF this season, not your enemy.

Find a quiet spot and close your eyes. Take three deep breaths to center yourself in your body. You don’t have to worry about being calm. Allow the part of your mind that’s feeling crazy to have free rein and ask yourself where in your body that part of you lives right now. Do you feel it in your chest, your stomach, your jaw, somewhere else? Take a moment to mentally breathe into that part of your body.

Now, imagine that craziness is a cartoon character, and really have fun imagining what it would look like. Is it an animal, a person, something else entirely? Introduce yourself and start a conversation. You might ask it what it’s doing there and what it needs from you. Perhaps you might ask it if it likes feeling crazy all the time, and what it needs from you to help it relax. Overall, be kind and curious. The kinder you can be, the more likely it is to talk with you and let you know what it needs.

Allow the conversation to continue until it reaches a natural conclusion.