How to Get Past Your Holiday Slump
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The holidays are over and it’s back to the real world. For many people this means getting down to business. Perhaps during the holidays you overindulged a bit on food and drinking, let your exercise routines go, and generally were on a mental vacation from many of your responsibilities.
While the merriment and busyness of the season can all be a bit much at times, when that dies down you might find yourself suddenly left in the stark naked January quiet with your resolutions and your neglected to-do lists staring you down. Not to mention that after all the holiday mayhem, you are probably exhausted and wish you could take a post-holiday holiday. Alas, the business of adulting beckons and you cannot ignore it. So here are some tips to help get past your holiday slump.
On the subject of resolutions, one thing I would say is to go easy on yourself. If you haven’t heard of “Ditch Your Resolutions Day,” January 17th has been said to be the day most people lose the battle with their will power and give up their resolutions. Because frankly, folks, white knuckling only works for so long. That said, there are ways to approach resolutions that can be effective.
One way is to pick just one resolution (two at the most) and to give yourself the whole year to implement it. By choosing one or two resolutions, you don’t overwhelm yourself, which can be too ambitious and lead to failure. And instead of trying to do it perfectly from January 1st on (impossible), you accept the reality that you are going to slip and fall off the wagon many times during the process of making the new habit stick. So instead of punishing yourself for not being able to do the impossible, you take a more compassionate and realistic approach to making change – one that is more sustainable.
Another approach to resolutions to try is setting the intention of a feeling state. Instead of making resolutions around material goals such as “Make more money”, “Lose 20 pounds”, or “Meditate daily”, make a resolution around the feeling states that these things will bring you. For instance, if your resolution is to make more money, your replacement resolution might be “I want to feel more free” since people are often wanting more money because what they really want is more freedom. Instead of aiming to lose 20 pounds, the resolution might be “I want to have more energy and experience more vitality in my body.” Instead of setting the resolution of meditating daily, it might be “I want to feel more at peace.” With the feeling state as the goal and the guide, you can gravitate towards activities and practices that tend to lead to those states.
Even if you’re not a person who makes resolutions, there still can be a pressure to “do the new year perfectly.” The idea of a “fresh start” – “new year, new you” – can run through the collective unconscious even if you believe resolutions are for the birds. While the inspiration to try new things and start new habits can be a good one, it’s still good to remember that there is probably not going to be a 180 degree shift in your life all at once. The emails still have to be checked and the laundry still has to be done. BUT the opportunity is here to reassess and re-calibrate as you shift back into business as usual.
In other words, business as usual can be adjusted in small ways, which over time accumulate into bigger changes. Consider the idea of micro-check-ins and micro-adjustments during your day. That is, give yourself small pockets of quiet time for reflection, time to check in with your intuition rather than find yourself on automatic pilot throughout your days. Small pockets could be 5 minutes here and there, or even a 1-minute meditation, but they can make a big difference in how your day flows. Your intuition might tell you to slow down or that it’s ok to say “no” to an invitation or project. When you’re more in touch with that part of yourself, you tend to feel more like your days are well spent and your goals are underway rather than feeling victimized by the endless lists of tasks that need to be done and the demands of others.
And finally, since the holidays can leave you feeling depleted, now is the time to give yourself permission to say “no” to things. Ease into the new year by adding more rest, more downtime, more nourishment and nurturing into your life. While it might seem like the ideal time to start a million new projects, I would say pick just one. Or even better, wait until February. The key to getting past the holiday slump is really doing less and listening to yourself more. So on that note, have a wonderful start to your New Year!