10 December 2014

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The Not-So-Happy Holidays

It should come as no surprise that December strikes some people with some very legitimate anxieties. There are the financial pressures of buying presents (and remembering everyone on your list). There is the (often alcohol-spiked) ocean of work and social gatherings which mark the end of the year. And there is visiting family, which in itself can raise many a person’s blood pressure.

There is perhaps no more important time of year for self-care. We can get so wrapped up (no pun intended) with the exterior stuff (not to mention out-of-control consumerism) that inside we can feel hollowed-out by the time we are going back to work (or school) in January. And this is ironic because this is supposed to be a time for reflection and the sharing of insight.

Make time for yourself: make the time to read a book you’ve been putting off, get a therapeutic body massage from a RMT, catch up on the year’s best films (that you didn’t get a chance to see). If you were thinking, as many do, of seeing a psychotherapist in the New Year (the mental and emotional equivalent of “going to the gym”), getting a head-start in December might save you some stress around the quote-unquote “holidays”.

Regardless, I wish anyone reading this the best for 2015.