Well, we are smack dab in the middle of the Holiday season and things might get a little stressful. When stress occurs in everyday living, we gotta get back to the basics.
The basics of stress relief are eating right, exercising, getting plenty of rest, and enjoying life.
All of these particular behaviors/habits help increase our energy and happiness.
There is a very special woman that I have been working with for a very long time. One of my very first clients. She is a paramedic. In the past, during the holiday season, she had a very difficult time because she was juggling her career, her family, and going to school so that she could advance. She felt very overwhelmed by her busy schedule, which is very common in our society.
The very first thing we did was evaluate her fundamental habits. And the questions that I asked are...
How are your eating habits?
Are you exercising?
Are you getting plenty of rest?
Are you having fun and enjoying life?
The answers were terrible, no, no, and no.
Then I asked...
How can you eat better?
How can you exercise more and what can you do to exercise?
What would have to happen for you to get more quality sleep?
And what can you do to have fun and enjoy life?
Her answers were, to eat more fruits and vegetables, quit fast food, every morning I could run, every night I could practice deep relaxation before I go to bed, go to bed at a decent hour like 9 or 10, and plan more activities with my family on my days off.
Sounds very simple but, not necessarily easy, especially when your schedule is so inundated. Although she didn't perfect the basic stress relief habits as much as she would have liked, she did improve on her behavior, which increased her energy and happiness.
The point I am trying to make here is this... The holiday season can be taxing on top of our regular schedule so try to evaluate the basic habits that will help you destress yourself. Rate your behavior on a scale of 1 to 10. One being the worst and ten being the best.
Rate 1 to 10 on these actions
Eating habits
Exercise habits
Plenty of rest
Having fun
Now that you have evaluated them, try to improve them. Ask yourself the first and second set of questions above.
If you take the time to evaluate your habits and answer the questions I promise you that you will improve because now that it is in your mind, you will be more conscious of your practices.
This is just the beginning of destressing yourself for the holidays.
Have a great week. Have fun. Be playful.
Speak soon.
Elizabeth Stanfill
