The holiday season is here with a few big days fast approaching and for many, they bring nothing but good times, family reunions, and maybe a little stress about getting Christmas dinner done on time. However, it can be a notoriously hard time on those who are having trouble with mental health issues. In part, it can make us feel lonelier if we’re not able to or don’t feel in the right headspace to spend a lot of time with people in our lives. However, it can also make us feel like we’re under pressure to be happy and to get involved in the festivities which can make things even worse.
As such, it’s important to take the time to make a wellness check on yourself during the holidays, to make sure that you’re doing okay, and, if you’re not, to make sure you can get some help with it.
Keep your expectations reasonable.
How we experience the holidays change a lot as we get older. It’s far from uncommon for adults to feel the blues set in when they don’t quite “feel the magic” as they might have when they were younger. You can find new ways to give the holidays meaning for you, whether it’s focusing more on the children who may still, indeed, be in the midst of that magic, or even finding time to volunteer with organizations like any of the hospices found at the Hospice Directory so you can use the occasion to do some good in the world.
Make sure you’re taking care of all of your needs.
If you’re not taking care of the body’s needs, then the mind is going to respond. There are roughly seven kinds of activities that you should make sure that you have in each and every day, known as the Healthy Mind Platter. These include sleeping, playing (or recreation in general,) getting physical activity, having time to focus on a task, having down time, connecting with people or the outside world, and time for mindfulness or meditation. How much time you devote to each might change every day, but having a to-do list where you tick off each of the items can help you feel like you’re achieving something positive for your mental health.
Take the time to monitor your moods.
Ask yourself how you’re doing and be honest with the answer. Of course, a lot of people can have trouble getting to the truth of how they are feeling because we don’t take the time to process our day-to-day emotions while we’re going through them. Taking the time to write your own journal can give you the time to slow down, think, and put on paper how you have been feeling and what is making you feel that way. It’s not “wallowing” in your feelings, either, as plenty of people find that keeping a journal is a good way of getting some distance from your emotions and processing them more effectively.
Watch how you handle the stress.
If you do feel yourself dealing with more stress than you feel you can handle, or bouts of depression and anxiety are cropping up, then you have to be careful with your coping mechanism. If you have trouble with addiction, it might be a good idea to turn to organizations like Sunshine Behavioral Health, for instance. Gaining a good awareness of your triggers, what causes you to engage in health-harming habits, can help you take proactive measures to protect yourself.
Find time to quiet your mind.
On the other hand, finding healthy ways to handle that stress can be of great help. Whether it’s practicing mindfulness, meditating, or even praying, make sure that you make time for a little moment of quiet each and every day so that you can center your thoughts and improve your state of mind.
Ask for help if you need to.
Most importantly, if you are feeling particularly low or having a mental health crisis, staying quiet about it is going to help no one. Asking family or friends for help is going to be much better for them than if they later realize they could have helped but didn’t. If you can’t ask anyone in your life, then finding someone online to talk to can be a great help, whether it’s to help you get through a moment of crisis or counsel you through the holiday season.
The tips above can help you check in on yourself, but you need to do the work. It’s more important now than most times of the year.
Mia Guerra
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