Take Some of the Stress Out of the Holiday Season with Simple Self Care

Help Yourself Relax This Holiday Season

The holidays are typically a mix of activity and emotions ranging from joy to stress, plus a big dose of overindulgence - eating, drinking, spending. After the last two years, this holiday season may bring more conflicting emotions than usual. If you’re feeling a jumble of weariness, relief, cautious optimism, anxiety, happiness, excitement, exhaustion...the list goes on - you’re not alone. All of that means that self care is more important than ever. 

Here’s the good news. It doesn’t take a lot to take a little extra care of yourself. Try one or more of these ideas to help take some of the stress out of the season and to add some extra self care to your routine. Maybe you’ll even start some good habits to take you into the new year.

Five Ways to De-Stress the Holidays

• Give yourself permission to keep things simple - Often our holiday stress is self-imposed because we think we have to overbuy, overdo, or continue traditions that we’ve always done.  Think about what you can reduce or simplify. Could you pare down the holiday menu a bit? Could you bake two kinds of cookies instead of five? Do you have to use ALL the holiday decorations you’ve collected over the years - or could you go a bit lighter this year (and have less clean up later)? 

• Under schedule - If your holiday routine includes multiple events and commitments but some bring more stress than joy, how about saying no? Sometimes a quiet night at home is the best thing you can do for yourself and will make the events you do attend even more special.

• Stick to your budget - This is a great year to not overdo the buying. We’ve all spent the past 18 months cleaning out closets, which is a good motivation to resist buying stuff just for the sake of buying or racking up extra credit card debt. 

• Give to something you care about - There are so many organizations and people in need. Find a cause or a group that matters to you and donate, (or if you can, volunteer a few hours). Add more meaning to your gift-giving this year by donating to organizations in the name of people on your gift list, rather than giving them “things”. After all, it’s the season to give and nothing makes you feel more grateful than knowing you helped others. Need ideas? Consider your local food bank or a group that plants trees. Want to teach kids about giving?  Consider organizations where you can sponsor or ‘adopt’ an endangered animal species.

• Simplify your gift-giving - Find one or two ideas that you can give to multiple people on your list and save hours of shopping time. Hälsa Botanicals Ease Soothing Roller is a one size fits all gift. This pocket-sized roller is packed with 1000mg hemp, arnica, menthol and essential oils that help soothe everyday aches and pains. It’s a great clean beauty stocking stuffer, and perfect for hard to buy for family members, friends and anyone else on your list. 

Give Yourself the Gift of Self Care This Season

• Treat yourself to a morning routine/ritual - This might be a cup of tea before others in the house wake up, 10 minutes of meditation or a short play session with your pet. Even 10 minutes of time for yourself can help feed your mind and your heart.

• Take a walk -  Put on a comfy jacket and get outside. This isn’t about exercise or counting steps - it’s time to look around, appreciate what’s around you - and breathe. 

• Add a nourishing body oil to your self care routine - Even if you can’t fit a massage into your busy holiday schedule, you can treat your skin to the benefits of natural skincare with Hälsa Calm Body Oil. With five organic plant oils - sesame, avocado, Swedish twinflower, raspberry and carrot plus 1000mg hemp Calm provides a big dose of moisturizing and nourishment to stressed out winter skin. 

• Schedule 30 minutes for a facial masque and bath - there’s nothing more soothing and rejuvenating than a weekly soak in the tub and some facial care.  Hälsa Botanicals Relax Golden Turmeric Bath Salts offer an opulent and restful soak of arctic salts, golden turmeric, hemp extract, lavender, eucalyptus and frankincense. While you’re soaking, try Hälsa Botanicals Breathe Arctic Kelp Facial Masque for a 10 minute skincare vacation. It’s packed with algae, eucalyptus, lavender, honeysuckle and chamomile that will pull the stress and toxins from your skin, leaving you refreshed and nourished.

Here’s to happy holidays, and to new habits that bring you more joy, less stress.