YOUR HOLIDAY SEASON MENTAL TOOLBOX.
The weather is wet and frigid. The sky is descending into darkness at 4:45pm. If you’re anything like me, daylight savings time feels like one big heaping of seasonal depression. I’m a June baby; I love the sun burning my face off and I am a chronic sandal-wearing girl. BIG Cali-coded, okay? Not only is the weather a bummer for me, but so is the media industry. My husband and I own a media company and work starts to come to a screeching halt around this time. While others are “living it up”, we typically have to hibernate like grizzly bears in the wintertime. So last year, I started making a concerted effort to prepare and protect myself from the effects of seasonal change. Here are some mental health tools to place in your toolkit:
JOURNAL! I can’t begin to express how important it is to process your thoughts and emotions in a safe, neutral, space. When we’re interacting with family members, nostalgic settings, and old memories, it’s important to create a practice of writing. Last year, I spent Christmas morning at an old friend’s house of my mom and dad’s. We ate brunch and reminisced about my mom and their friendship. It was beautiful, and a little hard. Sometimes, you just need a place to honor your experiences and emotions, not even to process. There are so many misconceptions about journaling and you can get bogged down by what you assume you have to do- methodically scribbling the events of the day (BORING). Instead, you can use some creative methods to unpack your thoughts, feelings, emotions, dreams, and even aspirations.
LOWER YOUR SCREEN TIME. I know. I know. What will you do without the videos of repurposing old Ralph’s grocery bags into wrapping paper? Holidays can be a stressful time filled with high expectations and pressures. Depending on your financial circumstances this holiday season, it could be painful to see parents showering their kids with gifts when you cannot. It may be uncomfortable to see your peers starting new families or even depictions of happy, healthy family dynamics. I use the word “depictions” deliberately because we know the truth: social platforms are full of curated content. Nevertheless, our minds have a hard time deciphering what’s real when we’re inundated with constant information. Perhaps you’d like to avoid seeing news headlines and triggering “breaking news” captions. Either way, take a breather and watch your mental health improve.
BOUNDARIES, BABY. One thing my friends know about me? I’m BIG BOUNDARIES over here! Asserting boundaries is not about controlling others, but rather coming to peace within oneself about what you want and do not want. It’s important to ask yourself this season: Where do you feel you have the least amount of margin in your life? Where do you feel “squeezed thin”? Is it in the workplace? You should start crafting your OOO email responses soon expressing when you’ll be available again. Is it in your family? Maybe you can practice how you’ll say, “I’m not talking about politics today” or “When I’m ready to talk about my dating life, I’ll let ya’ll know.” Maybe you can reflect on last year’s calendar events or journal entries to find patterns of your past boundary mishaps.
