Managing Holiday Stress

1. Acknowledge your feelings: recognize any sadness, grief, loneliness, or anxiety that might be present.
2. Reach out: if you are lonely, seek out community. If you are stressed, talk to friends or family about your concerns. Try volunteering to foster inspiration and stay connected.
3. Be realistic: things don’t have to be perfect, or like they were last year. Traditions change and grow with families. Get creative on how to adapt favorite traditions, and brainstorm new ones.
4. Set aside differences: accept friends and family as they are, even if they don’t live up to your expectations.
5. Stick to a budget: decide how much you can spend on food and gifts before you start shopping. Don’t buy happiness!
6. Plan ahead: Set aside time for shopping, baking, and connecting with others. Make to-do lists in advance.
7. Learn to say no: saying yes when you should say no leads to resentment and overwhelm. It’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable participating in every event you get invited to.
8. Don’t abandon healthy habits: have healthy snacks before holiday meals, get plenty of sleep, maintain regular physical activity, engage in mindfulness and deep breathing, limit or avoid tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.
9. Take a breather: Make time for yourself, even if just 15 minutes alone with no distractions.
10. Seek professional help if you need it : Call Well In Mind at x6187 for more in-depth support.

Why you need a Self-Care Plan:

• Customizing a self-care plan is a preventative measure
• Having a plan takes the guesswork out of what to do in moments of stress
• Having a plan helps you stay the course, build routines, and stay accountable
  Check out our Self-Care Plan template to easily get started on yours today!

7 Ways to Cultivate Intrinsic Motivation

1. Rethink Reward. Science has proven that for simple, mechanistic tasks, rewards incentivize us to perform well.  Keep in mind that for tasks that require thinking outside the box, reward leads to poor performance.
2. A Higher Purpose. When we feel that we are working toward the greater good, or something larger than ourselves, we may have an easier time staying motivated.
3. Visualize and Conquer. Visualize a moment in your life when you felt very proud of yourself for an accomplishment.
4. Feel capable. The power of “You can do it” has perhaps been diluted over the years. Try “You’re capable,” which speaks not only to the task at hand but your sense of self-worth.
5. Stimulate sensory curiosity. Change the environment.  We respond to new environment and may be inspired to think outside the box.
6. Recognize the cause-and-effect.
7. Connect games and learning. Try to make a connection with motivation elsewhere, the two drives are related.