The Holidays

The holidays will soon be upon us. The happiest time of the year! Right?…

For so many of us, the holiday season is bittersweet at best. With holidays, we feel a heightened sense of pressure to enjoy ourselves and often draw comparisons from our own lives to what we see in advertisements and social media. Maybe we struggle with body image and difficulty in our relationship with food - often, this reflects difficulty in relationships with our families. One thing is for sure - the upcoming holidays are incredibly food and family centric.

The truth is, every family has their quirks. No family out there is perfect or having a Hallmark holiday. The majority of families will have disagreements and disconnect - others will connect fondly and positively, but maybe feel an immense drain on social battery. Whatever the picture looks like for you, we often encourage our clients to create a proactive “game plan” for surviving the holiday season.

How do you create your own game plan? Well, it always helps to have another set of eyes and ears on the areas for growth, so chat with your counselor about it first and foremost. To give you a flavor of what might be positive to reflect on:

What are some of your triggers (family, food, or others)?

What happens when you are triggered, physically and mentally?

What do you need in order to soothe yourself when triggered?

Do you have a safety plan and crisis resources?

Who do you turn to when you’re feeling overwhelmed and triggered?

With this preparedness and proactive approach, we find that clients tend to feel a bit more empowered and in control of what they may experience over the holiday season. Every solid coach has their game plan at the ready before the game starts!