Christmas calm techniques
Creative wellbeing exercises to ease festive stress
Christmas can be an intense time of year. Even if you love it, there can be a lot to do and manage. Sometimes it’s pressuring or overwhelming. Sometimes there are family tensions, or emotional challenges.
And it’s ok to acknowledge that.
The expectation that we should enjoy every moment and find it all completely joyful and magical only adds to stress. It’s unrealistic to think you’ll be filled with Christmas spirit all the time. If you go into the day (or days) of celebration expecting to have normal ups and downs of emotion, you’ll be more gentle with yourself as they occur, and that will allow you to move through them more easily.
When you do experience moments of tension or anxiety, or if you need a nervous system reset after the event, I’ve collected here a few creative techniques that you can use to bring yourself a little calm in the chaos.
It’s not necessarily practical, in the middle of Christmas dinner, to take yourself off for a creative therapy session. So I’ve designed these exercises to either be quick and simple to do in a quiet corner, or something you can visualise in the moment and then spend some more time with later.
This Christmas, I plan to make a cosy nook in a corner of a room. Ostensibly, it’s for my autistic daughter, as a safe space for her to retreat to with a book or some drawing if she feels overwhelmed. But I’m going to make it available to anyone who wants to use it, and I’m rather thinking I’d like to spend some time in there myself. I recommend it if you have the space (I’m just going to tuck mine in behind the sofa), and you could stock it with some art materials so you can do some of these exercises in there.
Exercises:
Below, you will find the following exercises:
If you’re looking for some further creative calm after the festive period, join my FREE online creative retreat.
Each day, from 27th to 30th December, you’ll receive a reflection prompt and creative exercise in your inbox. There are also some bonus gifts, including a beautiful Yoga Nidra practice, generously provided by the wonderful
. All activities are for you to do at your own pace and on your own schedule.It’s your space for some restorative creative time to ease you through the season and move you gently towards the new year.
Bilateral drawing
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