[00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of success in mind. The holidays are often the most wonderful time of the year, but let's be real. They can also be one of the most stressful. With family gatherings, shopping for gifts, endless to do lists wrapping up the year. End. It is easy to put yourself last. So today we're going to flip the script and focus on you, your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.
So let's talk about self care through these last few weeks of the year.
You're listening to Success in Mind, the show for high performing leaders, changemakers, and entrepreneurs ready to take your life and business to the next level. If you're ready for whole life success, keep listening.
I typically in the past.
Not even in the past, even last year, we'd get so run down by the end of the year that I spend the last week of the year. [00:01:00] Sick in bed with the flu, a cold COVID you name it? And I'm determined not to do that this year, but I still feel it. I still feel it in my body. The pressure to show up to everything, to perform, to be everywhere and be everything to everyone.
And it is exhausting. And even though I'm mindful of it now, More mindful of it. Uh, it's still a very slippery slope.
So let's talk about how we can take better care of ourselves. And these are tips you can use all year round, not just during the holidays. But I just think it's more pertinent that we're aware of it during this time of the year.
So our physical wellbeing impacts our emotional states.
And I don't know if you've noticed that before, but how you are treating your body affects your emotions. It's part of the mind, body connection. So here are some actionable tips to make sure that you are taking care of your physical health during the holidays. And none of this is revolutionary. These are all things you already [00:02:00] know, but sometimes we need reminders of the things we already know. So number one, prioritize rest. You need to sleep.
I have made sleep such a priority this year. And I'm continuing it in 2025. I go to bed typically between eight 30 and nine. And I love it. If you want me to go to an evening event, it better be really good. And you better be really important to me to get me out to an evening event because otherwise I'm not sacrificing my sleep for anything anymore. I like to be in bed by eight 30.
That gives me a half an hour to read, watch some videos, scroll on my phone, watch a show, whatever, and then it's lights out. Close my eyes go to sleep around nine.
So, I don't know what that sleep schedule would be for you, but you have got to prioritize your sleep and your rest. I've been using a sleep app called rise sleep. And this [00:03:00] app has been so helpful in helping me to track my sleep hours. And to recognize where I can improve. So I'm going to link that one in the show notes.
I definitely recommend checking it out. It kind of gamifies sleep. Oh, oh, and the other cool thing about rice sleep that I almost forgot to mention. Is that it will also tell you for the following day. Where your energy peaks will be and helps you to plan your day and your activities based on how well you slept. So pretty cool.
Right. And if you're having a hard time sleeping.
You might, I've talked about it before. I'm going to talk about it again. All of my hypnosis recordings are available on the aura health app. And I will give you a 30 day free pass to try them all. What I'm going to link you to in the show notes though, is my playlist for all of my sleep hypnosis recordings. Whether you have a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep.
If you need a 15 minute nap, whatever you need, I've got you covered there. So [00:04:00] check out that link in the show notes. It'll give you 30 days of free access to aura, and it's not just me on there. There's hundreds of top coaches, hypnotherapists therapists. Uh, you name it, you can find lots of great resources to help you prioritize your rest.
There. Okay. Second one to take care of her physical health is we've got to stay active. Now I know that this time of year gets so busy and it's easy to skip out on workouts. But you don't have to be hitting the gym every day to get movement and exercise in and to stay active. Try to incorporate it into the things you want to do anyway, for the holidays going for a walk in the evening to look at holiday lights is a great way to add more movement.
Get your steps in. And you're doing something festive and fun. Try to add more walking throughout your day. Go for a walk in the nice brisk December air. See what else you can do around the house to add in some exercise, even if it's like 10 minutes, [00:05:00] staying active is important for your body. Our bodies were not meant to sit in chairs all day.
They were made to move. Move your body.
Third, one balanced nutrition. There are so many goodies as time of year. And I am speaking to myself right now. When I say this, we've got to balance out the treats. With healthy, nutritious foods, whatever that is for you. I right now I'm focused on eating carnivore, but whether you are vegan or vegetarian, you're, gluten-free, you're dairy free, whatever it is, make sure that you are balancing your nutrition. So that you can enjoy the PI. But you're not forgetting to give your body the tools it needs to repair replenish. And to optimize your energy. So make sure you're balancing your nutrition.
I'm not saying stay away from the treats. I'm not planning to stay away from the treats. This holiday season. But we've got to be mindful of how much we are having, and I'm going to go back to the story I mentioned [00:06:00] earlier about. How, you know, I get run down through the holidays and get sick and I'm, I'm determined to not do that this year.
We're working on it.
I'm a work in progress too guys. Uh, I'm working on it. But sugar lowers the immune system. After you consume something high sugar, it weakens your immune system for hours afterwards. By like 50%. Don't quote me on that because I might be mixing up my stats, but it's something like 50% reduced immunity for several hours afterwards. That's a big impact.
So think about it. If you're starting your day with a sugary breakfast and then, you know, maybe you're hitting Starbucks and you're having a sugary latte. And then you, you know, throughout the day, you're grazing on a couple of Christmas cookies and sweets. And then you go to a party in the evening and you have all kinds of treats and sweets there.
You keep pushing your immune system down. So balance it out. Limit the treats to the ones that are really special and meaningful to you. [00:07:00] The ones that you really want to have just because it's in front of you doesn't mean it's time to eat it. So be intentional with when you enjoy the treats. And then hydration.
There, you know, we all know that alcohol consumption increases this time of year. Uh, We need to hydrate. You need to hydrate and depending on where you live in the world, if it is cold and dry, where you are, you need to be even more mindful of your hydration because the air is sucking the moisture out of your body.
So you need to hydrate, make sure you're drinking plenty of water throughout the day. And even, you know, those holiday drinks, the. Special sugary Starbucks drinks. Those aren't great for keeping our hydration up either. So make sure you were drinking. Your water. I'm saying that as I'm looking at my large water bottle next to me and realizing I need to take a sip.
Okay. So those are fundamentals. We know these things, right. But sometimes we do [00:08:00] need that reminder. So prioritize your rest, stay active balance your nutrition, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. So I encourage you to pick one. Of these healthy habits to incorporate during the holidays, commit to one. I mean, ideally we commit to all four, but pick the one area where you feel you need to work on the most and commit to improving it.
Okay. Now let's talk about our emotions this time of year.
And how do we take care of our emotional selves? This time of year can bring so much joy and nostalgia. Wonderment excitement, but it can also bring stress. Even grief. And so it's important to manage your emotional wellbeing. Here's some ways to do that. Gratitude practice gratitude, such as simple, easy thing that you can do every day. To help elevate your mood.
You can do this with a gratitude journal where you are. [00:09:00] Writing down things every day that you feel grateful for, or maybe you just take time to reflect once or twice a day on the three things that you're grateful for. I always do three, but if you want to do more by all means do more. There are no rules here and it doesn't matter how big the thing is.
Or little, if it's a material thing or a person, it doesn't matter what it is. The important thing is that you can connect to the feeling. Of gratitude. Because your mind can only hold one idea at a time, one emotion at a time. So if you are feeling gratitude and you're focused on what you're grateful for. Guess what you're not focused on.
You're not focused on the stress, the worries dinner with your in-laws you're focused on the things that bring you gratitude. And that not only elevates your mood. But it literally changes your body. It elevates the frequency of your body. Which boosts your immune system. You're welcome. [00:10:00] Okay. Boundaries.
We need to talk boundaries with emotional self care.
It's so easy this time of year to get wrapped up in while I have to go to everyone's event, I have to go to every party. I have to stop by this person's house. I have to. And it can feel overwhelming. It is okay to say no to going to an event or to a request. You can say no. Now I'm going to refer back to the episode that I did with Bob Berg, where we talked about. We talked about this very thing.
We talked about how to say no, but to maintain the relationship because I love what Bob said there. He said. You know, people always talk about know as being a full sentence. And technically that is correct. However, if you want to maintain a relationship with the person you're saying no to. Uh, It's you might want to soften it.
And I mean, no, in the context of like going to an event or a request. [00:11:00] I'm not talking about consent here when it comes to consent. No is no full stop. You don't need to say more than that. I want to make that clear. However, if someone's asking you to come to their house, to come to a party, to go to whatever event with them. And you're exhausted and you know that you need rest.
You need some downtime. You need a night at home watching hallmark movies with your spouse or your kids or whatever. Um, there's ways you can say no that still honor the relationship. So. Thank them. You can say something like, thank you for inviting me to your house. I really appreciate it. I would love to attend.
However, it's just not something I can do right now.
But again, thank you for thinking of me and inviting me. That's it. What I wouldn't do as I wouldn't lie. Cause then you have to remember the life you say, oh, we have other plans that evening. And then you take a picture of you and your pajamas on the couch. Relaxing. They're going to say, wait a minute.
I thought you had another event to go to. [00:12:00] So don't lie. Tell them the truth. Say, you know what? I would love to attend. However, I'm really exhausted right now. And I really need to take a night home for myself, but thank you for thinking of me.
So it's kind of like a sandwich. Thank them. Tell them. You'd love to tell them you're not going to. And I thank them again. It makes them feel better about it. And it's not slamming the door shut on the relationship, which means it would be invited to things in the future.
Check in. Check in with your emotions. Do a little self-assessment once in a while, whether it's daily or multiple times a day, or whenever you feel you need it, but just check in with how you're feeling. You know, Notice of. As you check in. Have I been feeling frustrated a lot lately? Well, what is it that I'm needing that I'm not getting right now? Or. Checking in.
You might notice, oh man, I've been so [00:13:00] irritable and short-tempered this week. Am I getting enough sleep? I've been eating too much sugar. And just check in with your emotions. How are you doing? Um, what do you need right now? It's Darcy Lang said in the episode, she was on recently check in with the person in the mirror, looking back at you.
What do you need? How do I support you?
Okay. Now let's talk about stress triggers, common holiday stress triggers, and how we're going to manage them this year. So some examples could be financial strain. It's an expensive time of year buying gifts for people. Holiday cards, buy new outfits to go to all the parties, buying food for the parties, you name it.
It's expensive. Busy schedules. There's so much running around so many events. I think I have eight holiday parties this year, actually down to seven because I just skipped one yesterday. Because I knew I needed some self [00:14:00] care. So busy schedules, trigger stress, family dynamics. I mean, that one right there is huge. Uh, whether it's your own family, your in-laws it's it's a lot, families are a lot to manage. So here is your stress reduction strategy plan. One plan ahead. Preparation can go a long way. So if you're dealing with those difficult family members, Role playing it out in your mind of how you're going to handle it.
Where are you going to set your boundaries? How you're going to have these conversations can go a long way. Prepare in advance. Look at your calendar. Where are these events? Yeah. As I said, I had eight holiday parties now, now. What out. But I looked at them in advance of what do I need for these parties?
Which parties do I need to bring food for? What's going to be easy for me to bring on those days. For example, tomorrow night, I'm going to a potluck party. [00:15:00] And I'm making a loaf of sourdough because that's really easy for me to make. I'll start it tonight. Tomorrow. I just have to shape it. Throw it in the oven, it'll be a fresh loaf of sourdough to take with me. So think ahead to what is it you need to plan for?
And if you need to bring food, when do you need to grocery shop for, when do you need to bake it? If you don't have time to make something think about, okay, am I going to order something from our restaurant? My husband had a potluck to go to last week and he ordered a sushi platter from our favorite sushi place to take. So, but he planned ahead for it.
He knew he wasn't gonna have time to make something. He didn't want the stress of that. So he ordered a sushi platter in advance. Um, do you need to bring a gift? If so, plan that out. When do you have time to go shopping to get it? Do you have time? If you don't have time, can you order something? Do you have time to order something online from Amazon?
Get it shipped the same day or next day delivery. Or maybe using like an online shopping service, like [00:16:00] Instacart, can you do that? Get someone else to go pick it up for you.
So think about what you can do to plan ahead, to make things easier so that you're not worrying about that last minute stress of. Oh my God, this is a potluck and I need to figure out something really fast. It leads me into number two for stress reduction and that's delegate. So I already mentioned the online shopping or getting a shopper online. Ordering something from a restaurant instead of making something for a potluck.
But how can you involve your other family members, your spouse, your partner, your kids to help make things easier. Can they get involved with things? It shouldn't all be on you. If you're hosting a family dinner at your house, this holiday season. Can you ask people to bring a dish? Again, it's not all on you and don't be afraid to ask them to help clean up after. You're providing your house.
You don't have to do all of it. Can you have someone help you clean your house? If you need to clean up [00:17:00] for family coming over. Ask a friend to come do it with you. Uh, again, spouse, kids, get them involved. Or if you're able to get a cleaner in to do it for you to take it off your plate completely. I know that's not an option for everyone.
It's another expense this time of year, but if you're able to. Hire that out. And then let's talk about the budget tips for those financial straightens. Memory's matter more than material things. So, if you feel financially stretched and you feel like you have to get gifts for everyone, you don't. You could do an outing. So I remember when my nieces were little, they would get so many gifts at Christmas. And my husband and I, we were younger.
We didn't have a huge budget at Christmas. We were both just starting out in our careers. And. Often, what we would do for them is we would plan an outing. We would take them tubing or, [00:18:00] um, skating, or we took them to the Nutcracker one year. So we'd take them to do different experiences. That meant something to us.
And we had a lot of fun And. I think they did too. But I know I treasure those memories and I'm hoping that they remember that. More than just getting another doll or a toy car or something. So remember. Memory's matter more than material things.
And when it comes to your friends and people who you think. Oh, I should buy this friend a gift. You don't have to.
Spend time with them instead, take them for coffee. Not everyone's love language are gifts. Some people's love language. Or words of affirmation, maybe they just want you to write a nice note. Some people's love languages. Our quality time.
You know, one of my friends, she loves quality time. That's her love language.
She would rather, you have a meal with her or go for coffee with her and have a conversation. Then buy [00:19:00] her something. And she doesn't want to buy you something either. Cause she hates buying gifts. So, I mean, it should do it. She's very generous, but. She would rather buy you dinner or just take, like, just go out for dinner and I'm in Baia, but just go for dinner with you. So think about other ways you can show your appreciation and your love for people.
That's not going to hit your wallet. Handmade gifts. I love getting handmade gifts. Some of the favorite gifts I've ever received have been handmade. And I love them. So it doesn't have to be expensive. Thrift store items. I love getting unique things. I have a collection of antique tea cups. Now I will say they become more expensive in recent years because they're more popular. But you used to be able to buy it antique tea cup for like $3 in a thrift store.
You probably still can in the right places. But I would love receiving that that's not an expensive gift. And [00:20:00] that would make me extremely happy to receive. So think about things too, that are just. We're budget friendly. Gifts. T also along that same line T is very inexpensive to buy loose leaf teas. If you have a tea lover in your life. Get them some like little bags of nice tea.
They will love it. It'll go a long way. And it's budget friendly.
Another way to manage stress. So let's say you're already stressed. And you want to manage your stress. I'm going to go back to aura. Aura has over 30,000 tracks of hypnosis breath work, CBT. Uh, what else? Mindfulness meditations life coaching. You can go on there, whether you have one minute or you have an hour and find something that's going to support you in releasing. That stress.
So again, check out that link in the show notes.
Okay. Now let's talk about joy because this is a season that's [00:21:00] supposed to bring us joy. So remember the holidays are about connection and celebration, not perfection. So here are some tips for creating more joy. This holiday season. Revisit your favorite traditions or create new ones. Unplug for some me time with a book with music or a cozy evening in. You know, maybe. At, well, this is one of my favorite things.
I love the hallmark romcoms. I love them. And not just hallmark. I just love holiday romcoms in general. I love the books. I love the movies. I'm I'm all here for that. I love it. I cannot watch enough of them. I can not read enough of them either. So unplug and whether that, and even if that's not your thing, Maybe you like reading. Mysteries or you like listening to true crime, whatever your thing is, find some me time to just do what you love. And enjoy the moments of [00:22:00] stillness. Sometimes the most magical moments are the quiet ones. So find the things that bring you joy and prioritize them. One of the things that my husband and I do every holiday season, and we love this. Is, we will spend an evening driving around, looking at Christmas lights.
We get one of the maps. We find a map online of where all the good houses are that have the really big displays. We get some hot chocolate. We bring our dogs in the back seat. And we drive around, we play Christmas music and we just go look at beautiful light displays and it makes us so happy. I mean, at least it makes me happy.
I think Gregg enjoys it too. I probably enjoyed a little bit more, but it's fun. It's quality time together. And that's one of my favorite traditions. My other favorite tradition is we order Chinese food on Christmas Eve. Not sacred to us. No one gets us out on Christmas Eve. We are ordering in. We put on our comfy clothes, we order Chinese food.
We watch Christmas [00:23:00] movies. Um, we do that because I'm Jewish. And I don't know if you know that about me or not. Some of you do some of you don't. Uh, but I'm Jewish. And I know you're probably thinking, you've just been talking about a lot of Christmas stuff in this episode. And that's because my husband is not Jewish.
He's Christian. And my dad was Catholic. So I grew up with both, but spiritually. I am Jewish, but. Christmas is so fun that I also get caught up in Christmas, not the religious side of Christmas, but the sparkly side of Christmas. I like the sparkle. So. That's what we do on Christmas Eve. Um, cause that's typically how we'd spend it with my mom is. Eating Chinese food when I was growing up because. That's what's open.
It's open. It's open on Christmas. It's open on Christmas Eve and that's what a lot of Jews do. Over Christmas is order Chinese food. So we do that. It brings me back to my childhood. I love it. And that's another [00:24:00] tradition that we hold very sacred in our household.
And now let's talk about some tips for just staying consistent and grounded. Keep your routines up. Keeping your routines is going to help keep you grounded. Whether it's little things like you have a morning routine, you do every morning or you meditate before bed every night, whatever it is, keep up your routines.
That's going to help ground you. But also be flexible. Give yourself grace, when things don't go perfectly. When things fall apart, give yourself grace plans. Never go perfectly. So be flexible, be present and enjoy your holiday season.
So just to recap quickly, remember self care is not selfish. It is self care. And you need to show up for yourself so you can fully enjoy the season and be present for the people who care about you. And that means taking care of your physical [00:25:00] self, your emotional self, managing your stress. Emphasizing joy and relaxation, and then staying consistent with those routines. So I would encourage you to take one self care action immediately.
After listening to this episode, whether that's scheduling your downtime, journaling. Checking out the aura app, drinking an extra glass of water, whatever it is, but start. Now. So this holiday season, I challenge you to give yourself a gift of self care. You know, you deserve it. In fact you more than deserve it. You need it.
And I would love to hear from you.
What is your favorite self-care tip during the holidays? Share it with me, share it with me on Instagram or any social platform, but you know, Instagram is my jam. That's where I am the most. You can find me on any social media platform. At the Teri Holland, that's Teri with one R and N I L Lincoln in the show notes. All linked to Instagram, but it's the [00:26:00] same. You can find me at D Teri Holland on Facebook.
Tik Tok. LinkedIn, wherever you like to be, or you can email me. At. [email protected].
All right. I hope you enjoy this episode. Share with me your favorite self care tip. Let me know how you're doing, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. This isn't it though. I know when I say that, it sounds like this is the last show of the season and is not, I will be back next week with Kristy Powers.
My dear friend. Who's going to talk with us all about managing ADHD and entrepreneurship, because they kind of go hand in hand. So you'll want to check that one out, especially if you have ADHD or if you think you might have ADHD. Even if you don't, you'll still benefit from listening to her strategies. Alright, thank you all so much for being here today. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with your friends. And of course rate and review the show.
Alright, bye. For now my friends.
