I’m dreaming of a mindful Christmas...

Christmas is a special time of year for a lot of people, but for a lot of us it can also be a very stressful time. Ashleigh Halpin, HR and Mindfulness consultant, offers an insight into mindfulness and how it can help with stress that can build up over the festive period.

Christmas is a special time of year for a lot of people, especially if you have young children - it can feel very magical and special. Personally, I love this time of year as I was born at Christmas, and it almost feels like I was born amongst the magic of Christmas spirit. Although it can feel magical and a time where we get together with friends and family, for a lot of us it can also be a very stressful time.

I wanted to tackle a few of these issues and give you some top mindfulness tips to get through the festive season with minimal stress.

Stress is a funny thing. We tend to see the word stress as having negative connotations and that we should live without stress, but we need stress in our life to be fulfilled. We need a certain level of stress to get out of bed in the morning and to reach our life goals, to have a sense of purpose and fulfilment. That said, the level of stress we can put ourselves under or is brought by outside factors can start to really overwhelm us and put us into an anxiety state or lead to other mental wellbeing issues.

The season of Christmas is an external factor that, if we are not aware and not careful, can tip us over to the space of overwhelmed.

Here are a few hints and tips to avoid the overwhelm:

1. Plan it out and time block – buying gifts and preparing for Christmas can feel overwhelming as we start to run out of time. Have a look at your diary and start to map out over the next few weeks' time all the things you need to do – I teach my mindfulness clients time blocking as a mindful tool. Often as busy professionals we are very good at time blocking our professional diaries, but we don't give the same importance to our personal time. Get the diary out today and plug in all your festive plans!
2. Prioritise – sometimes we get overwhelmed with the number of tasks we have to do. Prioritising is key to this – what are the top three things that are important today? Also start to look at all of the tasks you’ve set for yourself – are these all necessary or can you let something slides. Remember, sometimes we set our own to-do lists and put this pressure on ourselves.
3. Family and friends – Christmas is a time of love and joy, but there may be some people we are around at this time of year who are not very good for us. Remember you can choose what social events to go to and you don't have to say "yes" to everything. Check in with your boundaries and do what is good for you this festive season.
4. Lastly, Christmas Day is just one day! Make the most of it. Live in the moment and enjoy the time in the present with your family and loved ones.

If you enjoyed this content and would like to learn more about mindfulness, I have an eight-week online mindfulness course – lifetime access, available anywhere, anytime.

I also have a special offer for the month of December and have a special coupon code available to receive £50 off Mindful Reset - 8-week programme (thinkific.com)