The holidays are here! Wooo Wooo!!! And the Hot Mess Express starts to leave the station. Or does it? What if I were to tell you things could be different? Work, shopping, meetings, family obligations, decorations, appointments, personal expectations, not to mention the effects of what is going on in the world around you both locally and nationally--it could all be one big, frazzled mess. Somewhere in the midst of it all you are expected to be the “superME” and end up “plum tuckered out.”
Don’t Buy Into It
Overload leads to overwhelmed. Overwhelmed leads to lack of mental clarity and shorter “emotional fuses.” “Shorter fuses” lead to poor responses to important issues that surface. It can all get pretty ugly.
Use Your Superpower
Mental Fitness is not an option. It is a necessity especially during the holiday season. Mental Fitness is an “umbrella” term for a number of emotional and self-care processes that, when done on a regular basis help to keep your well-being foundation from crumbling as you build your emotional resilience.
In the BELL Method the first step, Backtracking is all about creating awareness. In this case taking a look at a simple yet greatly overlooked biological function, SLEEP, is one important piece to the puzzle.
Watch your sleep patterns including sleep duration, quality, cell phone time, the food and drink you consume before sleep. It’s all about awareness. Are you energized or drained in the morning? Sounds simple and yet sleep deprivation in this country affects 32.8 percent of the adults in America. Poor quality sleep can negatively impact your mental health and cognitive function and increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes. Long term poor sleep can reduce you lifespan by 4.7 years in women and 2.4 years in men.*
With this in mind, slow down and focus on your quality sleep. The holidays will be more fun, and that Hot Mess Express will pass you by!
Happy Holidays
Lisa
*National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. (2002, June 15) How Sleep Affects Your Health.