My Favorite Holiday Self Care Resources
You know I like to talk about self care a lot, because it’s essential to living our best lives and doing our best creative work, but it’s especially important in December, the month of waning daylight, transitioning into winter (and seasonal affective disorder), and holiday frenzy.
But if you’re feeling overwhelmed by any or all of these things, you’re not alone, and you don’t have to opt into all of the craziness of this season. Self care, when it comes down to it, is simply identifying our needs and responding to them, and it’s okay to do that a little bit at a time, as much as you can manage.
Small actions have big impacts!
I’m sharing some of my favorite holiday self care resources - blog posts and podcasts that I hope will help you stay more grounded and present this holiday season:
Sometimes it’s great just to get back to basics, no shame there!
This is one of my most popular posts ever, and it has plenty of applicable stuff for creatives of all types, not just musicians.
Tracy Benjamin from Shutterbean has some great quick tips, and I love the visual style of her blog, especially her handwriting!
Angela Beeching, a career consultant for musicians, highlights gratitude as a way to not only de-stress, but ultimately to help your career. I love how she focuses on mindset.
We always talk about what to do during the busy lead-up to the holidays, but Lauren Cummins of StarHaus Psychotherapy, who created the Self Care Solitaire decks that I really like, wisely focuses on how to take care of yourself afterwards, as well. She also has some good ideas about how to embrace winter here.
PODCAST EPISODES
Daily Reminders for a Joyful Holiday Season (Needy with Mara Glatzel)
If you’ve been following along with my posts for any length of time, you probably know how much I love Mara Glatzel’s work and podcast. In my opinion, the most important factor in taking care of ourselves is knowing what we need and giving ourselves permission to go after it.
Cultivate a Meaningful Holiday Season (Belonging with Becca Piastrelli)
I loved this episode because it focused not just on being over doing, but also talked about rituals as a way of connecting to the winter season (I’m all for trying to make friends with winter!)
Make Space for Self Care (Don’t Keep Your Day Job with Cathy Heller)
This episode with physician Beth Ricanati focuses on baking as a ritual for self-care (since that’s what her book is about), but encourages us to give ourselves permission (there’s that word again, why is it so hard sometimes?) to take time for self-care.
I also did a Facebook live packed full of tips on this very topic:
I invite you to take as much time and space as you need to process all that you may be feeling right now, and reflect on the end of a year (If life feels too crazy right now, schedule some time after the holidays, when things are quieter.)
I hope that these resources are helpful for you - they certainly have been for me, and I’m revisiting them this season, because self-care is a practice, and reminders are always good!
If you need extra support to keep yourself feeling healthy during this season, or to replenish your creative energy for the new year, you can always book a free call with me or send me a message on Voxer to see if coaching would be a good fit. You’ll leave with at least one tangible tip that’s easy to put into practice right away!
Wishing you the best through this holiday season!
What do you do to take care of yourself during the winter and/or holiday season? Let me know in the comments!
Pianist and composer