Topic Tuesday // LIVE NOW! // Surviving the festive season overwhelm

[Shaz51]

Hi NikNik           ,    Eagle                           not as much as i should,  get my hair done , go visit my mum , I know I should do more but you kind of forget yourself .

[Shaz51]

hi coffeegirl                     i know , i find it hard too, it is hard when you don`t have family and friends to support you , but itry to do little things for just me

[Eagle]

At least you have identified what 'self care' stuff works for you @Shaz51

[Shaz51]

hi Eagle                     getting there, bit by bit

[Former-Member]

Hi @Shaz51

Agree it is easy to forget the self care when things get busy.

Hi @NikNik

Thanks for thinking about this topic. Sorry I am a bit late joining but the things I most like about getting ready for Christmas is the shopping and the decorations and the most annoying thing is trying to organise things with family members who do not want to cooperate but seem to expect Christmas to just fall into place as a great family experience.

[NikNik]

@Shaz51 we tend to put ourselves last 🙂

Here is your challenge for tonight.... Fill in the blanks

When I start to feel/think ________________ I will _____________________

The first blank is that feeling or thoughts you first get when you start to feel anxious / stressed and the second blank is to be filled in with something you can do to deescalate the current stress.

Mine is ;

When I start to feel overwhelmed, I will do some colouring in (it's my new obsession)

[Former-Member]

Sorry I posted the same message twice.

[coffeegirl]

@NikNik I love those adult colouring in books!

Mine is;

When I start to feel hot I will turn on the smiling minds app and do one activity

I say 'feeling hot' because my body has that reaction when I'm stressed, angry, annoyed etc

[Shaz51]

hi NikNik   thank you                   

Mine is ;

When I start to feel overwhelmed, I will Ring my Mum who is also my best friend

When I start to feel stressed, I will make myself a cup of coffee and sit outside with a magazine

[Eagle]

Hi @Former-Member I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes I wonder if I just didn't organise anything, if anything would actually get done! One time saver I found last year was this Secret Santa online organising tool. I'm not sure if you guys do presents, but our family does 1 big present for each person.

It's been messy in the past, but on this site you just put them emails in of the people participating, then the site automatically allocates a secret santa to each person. You can also add items to your wishlist (I demand that everyone does this) so their secret santa can get them something they actually want!

http://www.secretsantaorganizer.com/

I find this task of 'when I feel___ I will____' as really tricky, because I can't just drop everything and go to the beach everytime I'm stressed... Maybe I could just think of the beach lol

When I feel flusted, I will stop and think about the beach

Hmm that's realistic ..  I will get to the beach when I can... but just thinking about it will help, just a little bit 🙂