Holiday Stress : Simple tips to Beat Stress before it Beats You
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November 17, 2020 - Episode #39 - Holiday Stress : Simple tips to Beat Stress before it Beats You
It's 2020 and the last thing you need is someone lecturing you about the effects of stress on your health! This year has about done us in with regard to stress, worry and overwhelm. And now, we enter into a very different Holiday season; one filled with grief, anxiety and fear of the unknown. The question remains, how do we beat the stress and find joy in this season? How do we thrive instead of just survive? This topic we are hitting head on in today's podcast. And my friend, you know this is the place for real talk about real life. I share with you my struggles with stress and self-care during the holidays and then reveal some simple tips to help you find your JOY! Together, let's beat stress before it beats us! Here are the links that I promised during this episode....
Before you go, read this recommendation from Lori B. She writes, "If you are ready to get to the core of your health issues and finally uncover what’s really going on in your body, this is your answer. Jennifer approaches health care in a kind, realistic and comprehensive manner. You will be a priority to her and will feel cared for during your sessions and time with her. It is a very wise investment.” If that resonates with you and you are thinking, hey I need some help. And I need someone to be kind. I don’t want someone to make me feel guilty or ashamed for the health choices that I’ve made before. If that’s you, I figure you might have some questions about Health Coaching. I invite you to private message me your questions. We can connect over DM on FB or Instagram @inspirehealthyharmony. If you would rather email, you can find me at [email protected]. I look forward to connecting with you. Read Full Transcript below Where else to listen: (note: Google is only available on android devices)
FULL TRANSCRIPT November 17, 2020 - Episode #39 - Holiday Stress : Simple tips to Beat Stress before it Beats You It's 2020, aren't you beginning to just hate those numbers. I mean, all we know is stress and overwhelm in this year. Do you feel like you're being bombarded day in and day out a constant barrage of bad news? Leaving us feeling overwhelmed and unable to catch our breath. We just thought we were stressed before COVID. Now it’s at an obscene level and it's the holidays. Is it even possible to beat stress? Because right now it feels like it's beating us. Let's talk about it today on Healthy Harmony. Hey there. Welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you so you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. Then my friend you are in the right place. As a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health body, mind, and soul. I want you to live a life. You not only love, but a life where you're truly arriving. This podcast is real talk about real life, simple, realistic strategies that will leave you feeling empowered. As we dive into physical health, mental, emotional health, and spiritual health. Because addressing these areas equals intentional harmony, AKA happiness, fulfillment, and confidence. Let's do this. It's the holiday. And I'm really excited because I've been working on a special gift just for you, a gift to help you thrive during the holidays and not just survive. It will be available next week. So please stay tuned. You're going to love it. Before we get started. I want to read this a recommendation from Lori B. She writes, “if you are ready to get to the core of your health issues and finally uncover what's really going on in your body. This is your answer. Jennifer approaches, health care in a kind, realistic and comprehensive manner. You will be a priority to her and feel cared for during your sessions and time with her. It is a very wise investment.” Thank you for your words, your thoughtful words, Lori. I appreciate you. Hey, if that resonates with you and you're thinking I need some help and I need someone to be kind. I don't want someone to make me feel guilty and ashamed for the health choices I've made before. If that's you, I figure you might have some questions about this health coaching thing and what that looks like. So I invite you to private message me with your questions. We can have a conversation there. You can connect with me over private message on Facebook or DM over Instagram at @inspirehealthyharmony. And hey, if you would rather email, you can find me there too. [email protected]. I really look forward to connecting with you. Now let's hit this topic head beat stress before it beats you. I know what you're thinking, stress. All I know is stress. It's swirling all around me and you're probably thinking, Jennifer, please do not lecture me about reducing stress because my stress is not going away anytime soon. In fact, I think it's getting worse. Hey, don't worry. I'm not going to lecture. And I'm certainly not going to make you feel guilty or ashamed for how you have either managed or mismanaged stress in the past. Now I'm just here with some real talk about real life. I'm going to get real with you and openly share what I've learned from my struggles and my mistakes, and some key strategies that I've put in place. Combining my years of health experience and lots of research, let me emphasize realistic strategies that fit our busy chaotic lives. Personally, I've gotten so frustrated and discouraged when I'm looking at an influencer's page or a health experts page. And the tips provided seems so unattainable to me, just unrealistic for my life. So what I try to provide here on the Healthy Harmony podcast is practical, simple, and realistic. We don't have time for a complicated! I coach women. And let me tell you something. I don't have women who come to me and say, yeah, I've just let myself go. I just wanted to abandon my health and tack on some extra weight. No, my clients are women who have been so busy taking care of everybody else that they haven't made the time to care for themselves. And they are stressed and they're worn out. And they're exhausted because they're trying to pour from an empty cup. You know what? I relate to this, trying to love well, when you just don't feel well. This is part of my story, my journey, I'm a mom to two teenagers. I've got a son who's 13 and a daughter who's 15. They will very quickly be turning 14 and 16 here within the next couple of months. And raising teenagers is fun and very scary. I describe it being similar to riding a roller coaster. Sometimes it's so much fun and you just put your hands in the air and let out a big, woohoo. It's so much fun. And then other times you are literally sick to your stomach, nauseous with a worry and anxiety. And you're thinking I want to get off this ride. That is, isn't that a good description of raising teenagers? Mamas. Do you hear me? But I'll tell you that there's something about having my kids get older. That makes me panic a little bit because man, this is going by so fast. So I do, I really want to cherish the time and make memories. But if I'm honest, brutally honest, so often I've been so stressed and not feeling well because I've kind of let go of my self care and I just don't have as much capacity to love well and be in the moment. I've learned that it's so much easier to love well when I feel well and this really holds true during the crazy holiday season. I just have this memory of, I think it's maybe a couple years ago and I was in that, get it done mode and decorating. And I just lose my mind when I'm decorating, because I want it to be picture perfect and I do enjoy it, but I get kind of wrapped up in it and things have been really crazy and busy and I'm standing on a ladder and I'm decorating my mantel and my son was helping me. And he asked me a very simple question. And he was doing something and I wanted him to do it differently and I let him have it. I just snapped. And in that moment I started verbalizing cause I started apologizing because I realized I'm, I'm like a crazy angry elf standing on this ladder. And I just started verbalizing. I'm sorry. I'm stressed. I don't feel good. I don't think I've had enough water today. I didn't take my supplements. I haven't had time to exercise and all of this just kind of starts coming out, but it was me kind of verbalizing why I was so like mean in that moment. How many times have I done this stealing joy out of the season because I'm frantic and I just want to get it done instead of enjoying the process of decorating or pausing the savor the precious moments. How often have I done this? Too often, just operating in that, get through it. Survival mode instead of truly thriving. Maybe my kids need to see something besides a stressed out wreck of a mom? So today we're going to go over some simple tips, six simple tips to beat holiday stress before it beats us. Are you ready? Number one, practice mindfulness. One of the main things that I work with my clients own is mindfulness and listening to your body. So just this week I was having a coaching session with my client Lynn and she has made just amazing progress. But last week was rough on her. It was very stressful. And she went back to some of those former unhealthy habits, but in the middle of that, she realized, wow, I think because I've gone back to those unhealthy habits, that's why I'm feeling so badly. And she said something to me. She said that she would have never realized that without our sessions! Just that mindfulness and that kind of connecting the dots. Okay, here's what I'm doing. And here's how I'm feeling. So now I know exactly what I need to do to get back on track. So I thought that statement was so powerful when she said I would have never realized that if we hadn't had these sessions, it's just that mindfulness for most of you, your body is trying to tell you something, but you haven't taken the time to listen for us as women. We are natural caregivers. We are so used to taking care of everyone else and listening to everyone else. Hey, mamas, I'm talking to you. You know, when it comes to listening, you can hear your kid cough in a crowded room and know that's my kid. We listen to others and their body. So can we apply that level of awareness and listening to your own body? This is especially important when we're stressed! Body awareness is the art of listening to our body and picking up on the signals that our body is sending to us. What physical symptoms do you have when you're stressed? Another example of a client here recently, a new client, Tammy, and we're talking about stress and the the signals that our body is sending us when we're stressed and what the body does when it's stress. And, and I asked her, so how does your body respond when you're stressed out? She said, I don't, I don't know. I've just never really thought about it. And then as we talk through some of those manifestations as physical manifestations of stress, she said, I guess I'm just so used to feeling that way. And that really holds true for so many of us. So many people when it comes to those physical manifestations of stress experience, various signs, okay? So we've got to listen and look for those. When you're stressed out. Many people experience headaches, clenching of the jaw, chest tightness, a rapid heart rate, brain fog, tensing the shoulders and shortness of breath. Once we realize that our body is in a state of stress, it is absolutely crucial to help our body dial back that stress response. That leads me to number two, intentional, deep breathing. It's a very powerful way to help your body dial back that stress response. Here is a deep breathing technique that I teach my clients. It is called four square breathing. Very, very simple, simply breathe in and count to four, hold it. Count to four, breathe out, count to four and hold it and count to four. Why don't you try that this week? You'll love it. Number three, nourish and restore your soul. Speaking of breathing and another wonderful technique that will help your body dial back the stress response and help you shift gears is a one minute pause. Now this is coming from a fantastic book that I'm currently reading. It's by John Eldridge and it's called get your life back. I highly recommend this book. In fact, I will link that in the show notes so you can be sure and check it out. He discusses the blistering pace of life and then nonstop demands placed on us by society. And we had this crazy barrage of information and text and social media and not just information but suffering at the entire planet in great detail. And it's all at your fingertips. So we found ourselves with weary souls. Are you weary my friend? I am. I'm feeling it. Our souls were not meant to live like this. John Eldridge states in that book that God wants to strengthen and renew your soul. That sounds so soothing to me and so very much needed. So a strategy that he recommends in this book is the one minute pause. Very, very simple taking 60 seconds to just be still and let it all go. One minute. I know you heard that and you thought one minute, I mean, how can that be effective? But you'd be surprised. Can you try that this week? Taking a one minute pause, deep breathing, maybe even stepping out in nature in these upcoming weeks. I want you to think what can I do to nourish my soul? Because my friend, body, mind, and soul, it all goes together. Number four, keep it in perspective! As women. We just think we can do it all. And we try. I mean, we really try, but in actuality we can't, we can't do it all. I had a friend remind me recently when I was really, really stressed out. And honestly I had every right to be stressed out. I mean, it's a awful situation, but I had this friend remind me, control what you can control! Man, that hit me right between the eyes. Control what you can control. There's a lot of stress that I'm stressing about and worrying about. That's beyond me. It's out of my control. I can't control politics. I can't control COVID. I can control me and my response. So many situations I desperately want to have control, but I don't. I just don't. So I have to keep it in perspective, control what I can control. Number five, let go of unrealistic expectations. Oh boy, here we go. Unrealistic expectations. We have a tendency to play some really pretty high expectations on ourselves. Add to that the expectations that are piled on with work and family and social media and society. And it's no wonder we're stressed out and overwhelmed. Let's look at holiday expectations, even just glancing at Pinterest and Instagram and Facebook. You're inundated with images of this picture, perfect holiday scene with delicious food and happy children. And then we feel pressure for our home to look exactly the same when it comes to decorating. If you enjoy it, do it, go for it. If it stresses you out, Hey, you do what you need to do. Don't worry about it. Now. I will say here, because I'm in the middle of decorating. In fact, that's what I'm going to be doing right now after I record this podcast. I love decorating. It brings me joy. Like I have so many decorations that have a very specific memory, that have a story. I've always lived in the South. I've never gotten a whole lot of snow and apparently that's coming through, I think there's some psychological issues here that I'm uncovering as I'm just speaking this out loud to you, but I lose my ever-loving mind around the holidays. And I try to transform my house into a Winter Wonderland. I mean, clearly this home girl needs to like move somewhere there is snow! Because I bring the snow inside. So it's all about the flock trees and the snowy branches and snowflakes galore. It's a little bit over the top. In fact, one year I was walking in the house and I heard a little bird chirping and I thought, wow, that sounds like it's inside versus outside. It was inside. A bird had flown in y'all! I'm going to tell you this made my day. Do you know why I took it as a compliment? I took it as a compliment that that bird got confused that my inside of the house looked like the outside with the snowy branches and the pine cones and the greenery and the snow. Like I took it as a compliment that this bird got confused. So clearly I do have some psychological issues here, but what I'm telling you is that if it brings you joy, fantastic, if it doesn't in is more of a stress and a burden, then find a way to shift those expectations. You know, it's funny, you feel good about decorating your house until you start scrolling Facebook or Instagram and see your friend's pictures, then suddenly it's not good enough. And you're consumed with this overwhelming desire to hit up Home Goods, Target and Hobby Lobby. So the expression "comparison is the thief of joy" really rings true here. So we, when we're letting go of unrealistic expectations, we got to let go of that comparison. Managing expectations is that process of letting go and being kind to yourself, knowing that you need to do what's realistic and good for you. So think about some of those realistic expectations for you this season consider focusing on those things that bring you the most. Number six, our last simple tip, get some sleep sister. Okay. You have heard me reference this on a few podcasts now and I do have an entire podcast on sleep. It is so important. So again, I will link that in the show notes. So you can go check it out if you missed it, but you know, good and well that you simply cannot cope with everything you have going on without getting good sleep. First, I want to showcase the relationship between sleep and stress. Have you noticed that when you're so stressed sleep seems elusive? Yes. There is a very scientific reason for this and it goes back to that stress hormone called cortisol. It is supposed to naturally ebb and flow during the day. So at night it is supposed to naturally fall. When the cortisol falls, it signals to the body. Hey time to wind down time to go to sleep. The problem when you're stressed out that cortisol level, it stays jacked up. So it really interferes with your sleep. It's a horrible disastrous cycle. When you're stress, you can't sleep good. And then the next day you cannot cope with the stress that's being thrown at you! So to get good sleep, first, you need to look at what's interfering with your sleep. So again, I told you real talk on this podcast. For me. I realized that alcohol was the reason that I wasn't sleeping very good. I just didn't think much of having some wine to wind down and relax. I certainly justified it because it was good clean organic wine with less sugar. But the harsh reality is that alcohol wrecks your sleep. I know it's tricky because alcohol relaxes you and it makes you fall asleep. The problem is that it really interferes with you getting that good, deep restorative sleep that you need. So I want you to identify, what's holding you back from getting sleep. If you're stressed, what will help you relax? Okay. Besides alcohol y'all! What will help you relax? We've talked about deep breathing that intentional breathing. Some other suggestions here are very simple and realistic… soaking in an Epsom salt bath, diffusing essential oils, reading, praying, doing yoga, or just some really simple relaxation stretches writing in a gratitude journal. Again, we want to send signals to the body that it's time to relax, time to unwind and time to get ready for restorative sleep. So oftentimes we are in go mode and we're in go mode, right? Until we hop into bed. And then we hop in the bed and we lay there and we're like, okay, go to sleep. And our body says, you gotta be kidding me. Right? So set yourself up for success by identifying your sleep obstacles and developing a solid bedtime routine. That wraps up some top tips to beat stress during the holidays. Quick note, I didn't talk about food in this episode because I just did a podcast on sugar cravings. If you missed it, go check it out. I'll link it in the show notes. Speaking of, you can find all the podcasts on your favorite podcast platform, Apple, iTunes, Google, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and more so be sure and click that subscribe button. So you don't miss anything. Now I've got to go cause I've got some decorating to do. It brings joy to my heart. So I'm about to go nuts with the snowflakes. So until next week - take a deep breath, manage those expectations and find something that brings a smile to your face and nourishes your soul. I'll see you next time. Bye y'all. If that resonates with you and you are thinking, hey I need some help. And I need someone to be kind. I don’t want someone to make me feel guilty or ashamed for the health choices that I’ve made before. If that’s you, I figure you might have some questions about Health Coaching. I invite you to private message me your questions. We can connect over DM on FB or Instagram @inspirehealthyharmony. If you would rather email, you can find me at [email protected]. I look forward to connecting with you. |
