This is the season of wonder and delight, for kids. For parents, it’s the season of stress, burning the candle at both ends and hoping that everyone stays cold and illness-free for the big day. Indeed, Christmas, while festive, can be one of the most stressful times of the year for us parents. The good news is there are some ways you can reduce your stress, and feel more chilled despite the festive chaos. Just read on to find out what they are.
Ways to Feel More Chilled this Festive Season
Exercise
The first way to reduce your festive stress is to make a little time for some exercise. You don’t have to head out for a long run in the icy drizzle though! Instead, there are plenty of activities you can do at home in the warm or at the gym while you can stay cosy.
Bodyweight exercises are one option as you don’t need any equipment to do them, and there are plenty of tutorial videos you can access for free online. Also just like most forms of exercise bodyweight moves will help release those happy chemicals called endorphins which will help you to fight stress and feel more chilled this festive season.
However, if you are lucky enough to have access to a space like a home gym you can choose to utilise the equipment you have by lifting weights, building up a sweat with resistance bands, or getting your heart rate going with a jump rope.
Meditation
The next way you can reduce your festive stress as a parent is to do some meditation. Meditation is both an activity, and an opportunity to just be for a while, and let your mind and body unwind. The critical thing about meditation to remember is that the goal is not to try to be calm, clear our mind, or get rid of our suffering. Instead, the goal is to quieten down enough to observe that all of these things are going on within us, but they are not who we are.
There are many different forms of meditation to try as well, so you are bound to find one that suits your needs. For example, some people prefer to do Transcendental Meditation where they sit and repeat a secret mantra over and over again. While others like mindfulness, based on the Buddhist practice of Vipassana (which translates as insight meditation).
Still, others prefer to use anchors like bells, a candle flame or even items like these gorgeous singing bowls, handcrafted in Nepal. The reason for the use of such things is to help provide a focus for our consciousness when it inevitably wanes and gets caught up in a sensation or a train of thought. Remember too that the goal of mediation is not to place our focus on the anchor all the time, but to gently and compassionately return to the anchor when we have noticed that our attention has drifted.
Yoga
Technically also a form of meditation, albeit a moving one, yoga can be a great way to shed the festive stress that happens to parents at this time of year. One of the great things about yoga is that because you stretch and then hold specific positions or asanas it can help release physical tension in your body, as well as allow your mind to quieten down.
Indeed, for many of us who may struggle to sit and meditate, yoga provides an excellent option to help loosen up the body and the mind, either as an alternative or as a complement to a sitting meditation session.
Feel More Chilled this Festive Season – Take a Nap
Last of all, as a stressed out parent this festive season you must remember that nothing is stopping you from taking a well-earned nap. Yes, that’s right sleeping in the middle of the day is practically a tradition at Christmas, especially after all the rich food like Turkey, mince pies, and pudding!
However, there are some real stress-busting benefits to napping for the right amount of time. In particular, if you want to wake up refreshed and raring to go then a quick nap of around 20 minutes is perfect. However, if you want to wake up and feel at your most creative, perhaps if you are icing Christmas cookies, or making homemade Christmas cards then a nap of around 30-40 is best.
To nap successfully it’s best to find a quiet spot in the house that isn’t too warm. Make yourself comfortable with pillows and blankets, and you may even want to use ear plugs or an eye mask to drown out the merriment going on around you so you can have a restful, and restorative sleep and feel more chilled this festive season.
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