This holiday season isn’t going to a year of typical celebration. With the raging cases of COVID-19 increasing, health officials are discouraging travel and asking that plans with extended family, those who you don’t live with, to be postponed or canceled this year.
The holidays are stressful enough as it is. Now, add in the controversy of canceling travel plans because of the pandemic, which adds more stress. Dealing with stress is tough because when you’re feeling overwhelmed like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.
Sometimes it can lock you in place because you don’t know where to start. Your mind is flooded with thoughts, feelings, and no answers.
A great first step is to temporarily disconnect from the current and additional stresses. Taking a break can help you regain your grounding.
After you mentally disconnect from the stress, focus on your breathing. It sounds simple, but so many people tend to either hold their breath or breathe shallow and fast when they’re anxious, scared, worried.
When you breathe deeply, focus on your breathing because you’re physically calming yourself down and calming your mind. Focuses breathing slows your heart rate, breathing rate, and lowers your blood pressure. It’s a way of grounding yourself. When you’re calm, you’re able to think more clearly.
If you feel like your mind is still racing, then journal, write, dictate into your phone, or draw a mind map, which can be helpful.
This is a way to take your thoughts and worries from your mind and deal with them more objectively. Take what you’re ruminating about and put in on paper or in a recording. I prefer writing or journaling because you can see your worries. When you write about your feelings, you can visually analyze the problems are, how you feel and possible solutions.
Put it away for a while and come back to it. You be able to see it with a different lens. Also, find a supportive person who will understand and won’t judge or belittle. Someone who can be a sounding board and provide a different perspective.
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