Christmas is often a time of joy, excitement, and celebration. The twinkling lights, festive music, and sense of togetherness can create an atmosphere of warmth and happiness. But for many of us, the Christmas season doesn’t always feel as magical as it’s portrayed. Whether it’s due to stress, grief, loneliness, or simply feeling overwhelmed, it’s completely normal to miss the “Christmas spirit” sometimes.

At Lifted Therapy, we believe that it’s important to prioritise your mental health during the Christmas period. If you’re finding it hard to get into the holiday mood, or if you’re feeling disconnected from the usual festive cheer, know that you’re not alone—and that there are practical steps you can take to support your emotional wellbeing and rediscover a sense of peace and joy during the season.

We’ve included some helpful tips below to help you over the Christmas period:

1. Acknowledge your feelings
   It’s okay to give yourself permission to feel what you’re feeling and acknowledge what is going on for you. The first step is acknowledging and naming your emotions e.g. “I feel anxious” and exploring why you are feeling this way by reflecting on; what you’re thinking, feeling, how your body feels and what you’re doing (behaviours/actions). We can find writing down our thoughts and emotions in the form of a journal or diary.

2. Reduce the pressure and pace yourself
   Christmas can feel very overwhelming, pressurising and stressful! It’s a busy time for many of us and often we can hold expectations of what we think we should feel and act like or holding expectations of the “perfect” Christmas. It can be helpful for us to think about our values and what is important to us during the festive period.

3. Practice self-care
   To help us pace ourselves and reduce any pressure, we can practice self-care. Self-care is important to keeping ourselves well. We all practice self-care differently and it’s important to find what works for you! We’ve included some self-care ideas below:

   – Journaling: keeping a gratitude diary or journal can help to us to see all the glimmers (no matter how small – it might even be that you drink the perfect cup of tea!)
   – Breathing techniques: taking a few minutes every day to practice deep breathing and focusing our mind on the present moment (we find the HeadSpace app to be helpful!)
   – Exercise: We don’t just mean the physical kind! (though that’s good too!) we mean the emotional kind, engaging with mindfulness, yoga or re-evaluating unhelpful thoughts.
   – Talking to others: sharing how you feel with someone you trust, telling them what’s happening in your life or spending time with them
   – Planning: It can be helpful to plan what you’ll do over the Christmas period, feeling organised can help us to feel less stressed.

   Remember to take each day at a time.

4. Reach out for support:
   You don’t have you go through Christmas feeling disconnected or alone. If you’re struggling with your emotional health whether you feel anxious about what’s coming up, feeling low in mood or worried. We are here for you. Sometimes, voicing your feelings can provide a sense of relief and help keep you grounded. Lifted Therapy is not a crisis service, which means we aren’t available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If over the Christmas period, you feel unsafe or in a crisis please contact:

   – NHS 111 (dialling 111)
   – Samaritans (dialling 116 123)
   – SHOUT (Text 85258)

   Lifted Therapy will be closing for Christmas on Thursday 19th December 2024 and will re-open on Monday 6^th January 2025. You can still book in appointments with us for the new year by filling out our online booking form.

If you’re not feeling Christmassy know, you aren’t alone. It doesn’t mean that you’re failing or doing something wrong. The Christmas period is often very busy and stressful. We hope our hints and tips have been helpful and however you’re celebrating Christmas this year, we hope it brings you joy, love and peace.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

From all of us at Lifted Therapy.