Heading Home for the Holidays? Keep These Self Care Tips in Mind

There’s truly no place like home for the holidays! It’s wonderful to get away and see loved ones that you don’t normally get a chance to see throughout the year. Spending time with your family can be a great way to reenergize, revitalize and recover from our exhausting daily lives. As fun as it can be to see relatives and create new memories, it can also be incredibly overwhelming. Heading home for the holidays doesn’t have to be daunting. Check out these self-care tips to keep yourself sane and merry for the holidays!

Fill your trip with activities

It can be draining and uncomfortable to sit through endless rounds of questions about your job, living situation and love life. Lots of unstructured downtime can lead to restlessness and opportunities for uncomfortable situations. Activities such as games, fun crafts, seeing a movie, or taking a drive to check out all of the holiday lights, can be engaging while shifting the focus off of you.

Say “No.”

Lending a hand in the kitchen, running errands for a relative, or offering to watch the kids may be a pleasure when you haven’t seen your family in a long time, but it can also lead to feeling overextended. When you just don’t have it in you to help more than you can, let your family know that you need a break.

Take a shower

Spending time in a crowded, noisy house during the holidays can be stressful. If the only alone time you can get is in the bathroom, take some time to de-stress and recenter yourself with a relaxing hot shower or bath.

Exercise

Working out can be an awesome way to release stress and tension. Don’t let go of your workout routine while you’re at home! Spending time with loved ones may take precedence to your workouts, however, working out will help you cope with the little stressful moments that tend to build up when you’re home for the holidays.

It’s OK to go solo

Being surrounded by tons of family members can take its toll. If you need to step out on your own to take a walk, binge on Netflix or spend an afternoon finishing a novel, that’s perfectly fine. Taking time to recharge by yourself will give you more energy to spend with your family.