First published 28 December 2023

Time to Give yourself Permission

In this wonderful time of Twixmas, you know, that in between time after Christmas but before New Year, where most of us forget what day it is and perhaps more importantly, which day the bins go out 🤦🏻‍♀️, how are you treating yourself?

Have you over eaten and are now criticising yourself for having done so?

Have you spent a lot more time ‘people-ing’ than you normally would and now need alone time to recharge, or the opposite – spent a lot more time in solitude and now need to recharge by being around people?

Have you been expected to keep up the festive cheer and now you’ve had enough?

If any of these sound familiar, it’s time to give yourself permission to be kind to yourself, to find the reset button and prioritise you!

I’ve pulled together some thoughts on what you could do (if it feels right for you) to help with this.

From a physical perspective:

Move! Read my email/post from last week and get outdoors. Go for a walk!  If like me you are looking out the window to torrential rain, put on a tune you love and dance!  Or have a stretch, whether that’s just standing up and stretching your arms above your head or doing an entire yoga routine – pick what feels right for you!

Sleep! I know I could do with more of this! (Partly my own fault for not putting my book down 🙈) I aim for 8 hours a night, so, tune in and listen to your body to pick how many hours to aim for for you! If you aren’t sure how to do this, give me a shout and we can test it up for you.

Eat well!  You don’t have to eat all the leftovers! Can you freeze anything and have in smaller doses later in the month? There’s a good chance any chocolates have a shelf life longer than just this week too 😂 – find foods that make you feel good/strong/healthy and have more of those (remembering that this will be different for everyone, so you do you!)

From a mental perspective:

Boundaries!  Decide what they are and enforce them. You don’t have to attend everything and say yes to everything – listen to your body and energy levels, if you need time to yourself then take it.

Quiet time.  This means different things to different people.  You might need silence, you might need calming music, you might need loud metal music, you might need to watch TV, or go out, or my go to option, to curl up on the sofa with the latest book from a favourite author!  Work out what quiet time is for you, and again, take some time to embrace your version of quiet.

Mindfulness.  Take a minute or two (or 20) and meditate. This can be done in silence where you empty your mind, with a guided audio, or even your own script running in your head. How ever you like to do it, focus on your breathing and on being present in the moment.  This is great for stress and anxiety and if you are unsure where to start, let me know and I can guide you through some mindfulness techniques (2024 might just be the year I record some guided meditations!)

From an emotional perspective:

Forgive yourself.  Whether you ate too much, spent too much, argued too much and anything else that you are telling yourself off for, forgive you!  Self-compassion is much more helpful than self-criticism!

Connect. Reach out to your supporters and ‘fans’.  They could be friends, colleagues, family, neighbours or even me 🙂 – talk to those people in your life who won’t judge, who will support and listen and then if you want it, offer you encouragement, suggestions, a shoulder, or even to just let you vent safely!

Do something you enjoy. No matter how trivial, do something you enjoy. Watch something funny, have a bubble bath, spend time with a friend to do something fun (online or in person), or again there is always my go to option – read a book!

As always, if social media doom scrolling is happening, limit the time you spend – play a game instead – Tetris or other pattern matching games are great for stopping anxiety symptoms before they can take hold, or learn something (I’m happy to connect on Duolingo with you 🙂)  there are many options to learn things from your phone rather than looking at someone else’s heavily curated social media posts.

While I do advocate for self care and kindness throughout the year, it can be easy to forget when we are not in our usual routine, so take this as a gentle nudge to remember that you are important as is your wellbeing!

My challenge to you (if you choose to accept it) is to do something, anything, that’s just for you today. Even if it’s only to take 5 minutes to yourself.  

And repeat tomorrow, doesn’t have to be the same something, it just needs to be something that is just for you.

Enjoy the rest of your Twixmas, have a fabulous New Year when it comes, and if you need me, I reopen on the 4th of January, the day my next e-mail will be hitting your inbox, so come book in, start 2024 off freshly balanced having cleared any niggly blockers.  

You owe it to yourself to look after you, and if I can assist, then you know where I am!

Happy New Year and thanks for being with me throughout 2023!