Surviving the Party SeasonOf course as the month moves on, we go into party season, so I’d like to take this opportunity to give you a couple of pointers on how to make the best of it whilst looking after your mental health and well-being.
One of the main things I usually have to deal with at this time of year, from a professional point of view are people who need help to deal with stress and overwhelm.
Some people can get overwhelmed at the thought of having to deal with situations that are out of the ordinary, such as having family round, or having to go and be with family. Awkward situations, uncomfortable questions, people we haven’t seen since the same time last year, presents to buy, cards to write and post, not to mention the huge expense involved in much of this. The list can indeed appear endless and overwhelming; it can take people right outside of their comfort zone.
When we are in a state of overwhelm, our minds go on ‘Red-Alert’ it is part of our fight or flight survival mechanism. The more we go on ‘Red-Alert’ the more difficult it can become to focus on things and concentrate properly. Our primitive brain takes over and it can distract us, if we are not careful, we can end up with constant negative thought patterns going round in our mind. We can start to make mistakes and bad choices. Day to day tasks start to overwhelm us. It can really put us into a very negative state of mind.
Just as an example, if you start to think about that party you are dreading going to in a negative way, you will probably find yourself going over and over it 50 times in your head, each time imagining it in the worst-case scenario. In effect you will be winding yourself up and creating a negative thinking cycle. The thing is, the party or event will probably go ok – you survived last year’s!
So, here’s a suggestion for you to handle things better. If you start to feel this way you may find it useful just to take a step back from everything and give your mind some quiet time, it will help you to put things into perspective.
When it comes to looking after our own mental health and well-being some of the simplest things that we can do are often the most effective. If everything is starting to get on top of you, you may well find it beneficial, despite the weather, to wrap up warm and get yourself outside for a walk, preferably in nature, even if that is only round the local park. Never underestimate just how effective a walk in the fresh air can be for your mental health. Not only is it good for your physical health to keep moving of course, but a walk, in nature, will get your serotonin flowing, it will help reduce cortisol and bring your stress levels down, naturally.
The other thing you can do is ensure that you get a good night’s sleep. An essential part of our sleep process is the REM stage (Rapid Eye Movement) this is when we dream, and our brains process all the information and events from the day, before filing them away in our memory bank. This is why if, for example, we have an argument with somebody one day at work, we might go home, sound off at someone about it, perhaps have a good old moan about it on the phone to a friend. We go to bed, sleep well and the next day we wake up and have a different view about things. We might well still remember the argument, but we will have put it in perspective and realised we probably overreacted. This is what happens when we get the right amount of quality sleep.
However, when we don’t, if we are already stressed, if we are already on ‘Red-Alert’ then we may well find it difficult to sleep. We won’t process things properly, and we will wake up the next day still fuming about what happened the day before. We start the day off, having had too little sleep, and the situation can soon get worse.
So, my tips this festive season. If you start to feel overwhelmed, get yourself outside for a short, brisk walk, the less inclined you feel to do this – the more in-need of it you probably are, and the more you will benefit.
Secondly, look after your sleeping habits, get plenty of it. If you are intending to party hard – enjoy it, you only live once, but make sure you look after yourself and get plenty of sleep when you can.
I’ll be back in the New Year. If you are the type who makes New Year Resolutions and never sticks to them, then I will have some great tips for you.
If you would like help drifting off into a natural, deep sleep without the use of pills etc then you are welcome to download the free bedtime recording from my website. Just download and play it at bedtime, it will help you drift off into a blissful night of sleep. It is designed to promote REM sleep and help settle your mind.
Enjoy yourself – I’ll catch you again in the New Year.
Here’s the link for the Free Download:
https://www.martinfurber.com/free-hypnotherapy-downloads
Website: https://www.martinfurber.com
Email: solutions@martinfurber.com
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