Happy New Year to you all. I don’t know about you, but it all feels such a long time ago now. The build up (my favourite bit!) to Christmas Day feels magical and lovely but come lunch time of the Big Day, realise it was over in a flash and wondering why the stress gets to us so much. I digress.
How did you feel your mental health was in the run up to Christmas? Terrible? Okay? Really good? Maybe you can relate to all three at different point of the Christmas period. There is so much to do and it can be a stress inducing time.
As the new year begins, what would you like to do for yourself which would positively impact your mental health?
I have decided to revisit my boundaries. I have spoken about boundaries here before. The ones I have implemented so far have worked really well for me and I want to continue to hone them even further.
I found myself in quite the social battery pickle in December, and this is the reason I am revisiting my boundaries.
I had nothing arranged for the first two weekends of December – it was heavenly! I had space to think about what I wanted to do as the time came and act upon how I was feeling. Amazing! No pressure and no plans for two whole weekends.
Time to shop, wrap and do whatever came up and needed to be done. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t laid up living the Marks & Spencer advert life cosying up on the sofa in front of a roaring fire with a blanky, chocolates, a hot drink and a fluffy animal curled at my feet.
No, I was definitely in the thick of all that comes with Christmas, but it felt really good (see above) and like things were going well and it was calm, considering the busyness of the time of year.
The third weekend of December, all of a sudden I had four back to back social gatherings right up until the 23rd December. This happened because of my agreeing to gatherings within my friendship groups. We all know what it’s like in the group chats trying to find a date where everyone is free.
On three of the gatherings, I was free, BUT, if I agreed to them (which I did), it meant that I would be causing further deliberation amongst the group to find another alternative date, when everyone was already available.
So, I adopted the “Oh its Christmas! I’ll just go with it!” Does this sound like something you do too?
By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, I was tired mentally, physically and socially. As a natural introvert, I found myself wanting to rest at a time when the Big Day was approaching. The build up being my favourite part of the Christmas period, ended up being the bit that wore me out more than anticipated.
I do not want to be in the same position next Christmas, so I have decided to go with giving myself the choice and permission of saying no to things I know which will likely leave me feeling drained and tired, even if it means missing out.
This approach is what I want to implement throughout 2026 to give me plenty of practice for December 2026! Of course, I do not want to say no to everything, I did have a lot of fun! I want to be able to feel a balance of rest and socialising without feeling like there’s nothing left in the tank. Implementing boundaries reduces stress, which positively impacts our mental health.
If you struggle with boundaries, which is something I see very often in my practice, and you would like help navigating this, then please get in touch.
See you next time.
Amy x