Unwrapping Peace: Crafting a Stress-Free Holiday Season

Ever feel like holiday stress is a snowball rolling down a hill, picking up speed and size with every festive obligation? Let's hit the brakes together. On today's Rapid Rockets edition of ABGW podcast, we unwrap the gift of stress-free holidays, sharing strategies to glide through the season with ease. We're not just talking about surviving family gatherings and finding the perfect gift; we're redefining trauma recovery by transforming holiday struggle into strength. So, if the thought of another cookie-cutter Christmas party has you contemplating hibernation, tune in for ways to ditch the drama and create new traditions that light you up inside.

Grab your favorite cozy blanket and a cup of hot cocoa, because we're bringing the warmth of a handmade scarf to your ears—literally and figuratively. We recall the charm of personal touches in gift-giving and reminisce on the knitted scarf story, reminding us that the best presents can't be bought. By prioritizing self-care and embracing the art of saying 'no' to overcommitment, we'll guide you on constructing a fortress of peace amidst the holiday chaos. Forget about outdoing last year's lights display; let's focus on what really matters—building resilience and maintaining cheer for the new year ahead. Join us as we share our favorite laid-back traditions, from movie marathons to solo bubble baths, ensuring your holiday cheer is as bright and enduring as the star atop the tree.

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Transcript

Cheryl : 0:28

Hello everyone and welcome to ABGW podcast. Amazing, brilliant, gorgeous, wonderful trauma recovery redefined from struggle to strength. And we are here today for rapid rockets. Rapid rockets are extra episode where I answer a few questions, and the idea is that you can stop them banging it out, taking actionable steps towards working smarter and definitely not harder. So some of these questions may have been private messages that I've received on Facebook or Instagram or the other questions that I thought would be useful to me to also answer. So, without any further ado, let's dive straight in to holiday stress.

Cheryl : 1:27

What are the common causes of holiday stress? So the usual suspects for holiday stress include family gatherings, coping with loss of sometimes the loss of a loved one trying to navigate all these busy stores, the long queues, the anxiety about if buying and general conflict, as well as the high expectations that we sometimes put on each other to get stuff that we don't really need and we don't really want. What's a really interesting thing is, every holiday, it just feels like there's just too much to do and never enough time. Plus, missing those who are no longer with us can make it harder as well. You can avoid over committing by doing a really simple thing, which I know is really, really hard, and that's learning to say no, thank you. Thank you for considering me to just some of the social gatherings. I mean, most of the things that we feel compelled to do are not compulsory. It's not compulsory to attend every event that you're invited to, and the thing is, freeing up some of the time for yourself can actually reduce stress. Do you remember in Bridget Jones? Yes, I think it's the first yet Bridget Jones, bridget chooses to spend a quiet evening at home and to me it just highlights the importance of personal time, of Miss Holiday Chaos.

Cheryl : 3:34

How can I maintain the spirit of the holidays without getting stressed? Balancing holidays with self-care, self-compaction and relaxation really helps maintain that festive spirit without all the stress. I mean, whether it's a yoga class or a bubble path or just spending time on your own, just doing something enjoyable without worrying about all that holiday stress. Simple, what can I do if holiday traditions are causing me stress? The thing is what I think is, if traditions are causing you more stress and joy, it's time to break away from them, my dear, and start your own easygoing traditions. So one of my favorite new traditions is watching films. Literally Christmas Day, box and Tay, all I do apart from eating, of course is just watch films. So I'll watch all my favorite films. I'll watch love. Actually, I'll watch and die hard. I will watch coming to America, anything that's got a real Christmas theme. I will literally watch back-to-back in the midst of drinking and eating, literally for 48 hours. And I love doing that because, at the end of the day, it's always important to remind ourselves that sometimes people are worse off than we are and we forget that because we Get so caught up in all the drama of the current season. We don't have to do that. We can create new traditions that are more empowering to us and help us avoid all the trauma that comes with the holiday season and helps us to build resilience for the new year. Let's bang it out.

Cheryl : 5:56

How can I manage the stress of finding the perfect gift? In many cultures, handmade gifts like knitted scarves and baking goods are highly valued for their personal touch. I remember one Christmas Someone actually knitted me a. I don't know whether they're called scarves, but you know the scarves where they're literally just all the way around in one piece and you sort of fold them over. They actually knitted one for me as the, as the present, as a, you know, thank you for me helping them throughout the year. I still have that scarf. That scarf I mean it must be what at least I know nearly ten years old, and you know I wash it and look after it, but I still have it and that is one of my still one of my favorite things that I still wear every Winter, because it means so much the fact that someone took the time and to make it just for me, rather than just going out and, you know, buying something. So for me it's, it's important to remember, it's the thought that counts, not the price tag, and that you know we all can, you know, save time and money by skipping the rap in and just focus on our innate Creativity. We have a wonderful imagination, us human beings. I think we're the only One, of the only major animals that can imagine things and use that to enhance our creativity.

Cheryl : 7:38

The other thing as well shopping online Makes things so much more easier. So I still, when I do buy gifts not that I am this year I often go into shops way before December See what's nice, see what's going Around, see what I might want to buy someone, and then what I tend to do, because I'm weird person. I do all my Christmas shopping. If I'm going to do any In at the end of October, one, you know, and that's when I do all my Christmas shopping. I buy all my gifts. So when it comes down to December, I haven't got anything more to buy. Everyone else is running around like headless chickens getting themselves, so stressed out, you know. No, no, no, no, no, not for me. I'm into empowerment, don't you know? So I I always think one of the best ways is to shop online it. It makes the process easier and, potentially, can be more cost effective.

Cheryl : 8:54

The key, in my opinion, is to identify the things that are causing you stress, so that you can either eliminate them or you can mitigate them, or at least, if you can't change them, you can find ways around them. You know From your own experiences that most of the stress that we often experience is because of the expectations we set about ourselves. You know the expectations you set about yourself, and the thing is so. Remember to take a step back, breathe and Remember to enjoy this holiday period. After all, it's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, isn't it?

Cheryl : 9:45

So thank you for joining us today. I hope you found some of these answers useful. Please remember your presence here is valued, so stay tuned for more empowering content. I'm amazing, brilliant, gorgeous, wonderful. Remember your journey to resilience and transformation is a masterpiece in the making, so remember to embrace it with open arms and let your story shine bright. Okay, we'd love it if you would leave a review, because we do appreciate your feedback and your support. And remember, if you want to subscribe while you're here, you might want to do that now, but I will say goodbye for now. Happy holidays.