Maintaining Good Mental Health during the Stressful Holiday Season
Hello my Lovelies and Gents,
Let's just dive right in. Taking care of your mental health is so damn important. I have talked about my anxiety, OCD, and depression. Recognizing it and finding healthy ways to cope is so important. Obviously, regular exercise and sleep are a big help. However, if you suffer from anxiety, OCD, and/or depression that isn't always easy. I try to manage my mental health so that regular exercise and sleep can be a thing.
Every fall I drive by some cotton fields. I didn't really notice them before 5 years ago, but now every time I see them a peaceful feeling comes over me. It took me a while to figure it out. I always associated them with the drive to go see my dad before he passed. In theory, they should give me anxiety by bringing up memories of that weekend, but in reality, they calm me down. It took me five years to figure out why.
I wasn't the driver on that trip to see my dad. It was a very long drive and my anxiety over my world crashing was overwhelming. But, I would look out of the car window and see giant fields of cotton. I had never noticed them before and I was mesmerized by how beautiful they are. And that helped calm my anxiety on that drive. So instead of making me anxious now, they remind my body of calm. I have wanted to pull over and take a picture for a long time. I finally did that. I plan on printing this and hanging it up. hopefully seeing it every day will help during anxious times.
My number one go-to throughout the year is to put together jigsaw puzzles. My anxiety is generally about things I have no control over. I have control over a puzzle. I can put all the pieces back together. I'm also really good at them. That would be my superpower on Survivor. Now am I good at them because I do them so often or do I do them so often because I am so good at them? I don't know, but I do love a good puzzle. When Mom-Mom was in hospice at Aunt Carol's, there was a puzzle set up on the table in the corner of the room. I would sit there and work on the puzzle as Mom-Mom slept. It made a difference.
Over the summer I spent a lot of time at Carowinds riding roller coasters to relieve stress. Right before Thanksgiving, they transform the park into Winterfest. It's GLORIOUS. I love to walk through the Christmas lights. I went last weekend and will be going back again this weekend. My mom says that all of my pictures from Winterfest look like something out of a Christmas Movie. That gives me all of the warm feels.
The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas used to be my favorite time of the year. Mom-Mom had a stroke a few days after Thanksgiving and pass a few days after Christmas in 2016. My dad's birthday was this week. This time of year went from my favorite time of year to my most anxious.
I say this almost every week, but this past week was exceptionally exhausting. I was too tired when I got home to be productive. It was also my dad's birthday on Tuesday and I realized at noon that I was wearing my pants inside out and backward. I mean, I wasn't really in my right state of mind. Looking through pictures to post I came across the picture from the morning of my first marathon. It was dad's birthday and I looked AMAZING. Ugh. The best shape that I have ever been in when I was training for that. I don't want to go through that again, but I would like to look like it.
Anyway, the point of this story is that I was becoming completely overwhelmed with my plans for the weekend. I leave for Christmas in Maine in a little over a week. There are no indications that this coming week will be any less exhausting than last. In fact, I have more obligations. I finally remembered that it was okay to say no. I canceled a couple of things on Sunday and suddenly I could breathe. Now I know I plan on too much. But, I like to spread Christmas cheer. And that brings me joy.
I had hoped to make a couple of batches of Gingerbread cookies this week to hand out to friends, but I didn't get around to it. If I had, the plan was to deliver them this weekend while I was out. I made the dough yesterday and I will bake them tomorrow. It's super therapeutic for me and I didn't want to be rushed. Now I will be able to enjoy my baking time and I can deliver them on Sunday and still have time to relax before next week begins. I made the plans. But, I also realized that it was okay to cancel them on my part. Learning to say No has been the biggest lesson. It's hard. Of course, I want to do everything. But, if I get overwhelmed and start to resent something then it's not worth it. I still have plenty of Christmas on my calendar.
I have some traveling coming up that is making me anxious. I'll be flying to Maine. Some of my anxiety is completely irrational. In the past, I have flown to Maine directly from Virginia. Well except for that fateful Spring Break trip when my luggage went to Georgia for half of my trip. Have I even told you about that yet? I will need to check.
Anyway, this time I will be flying from Charlotte. I couldn't find a direct flight on my carrier of choice. I debated long and hard and picked a flight with a two-hour layover in Newark. I wasn't crazy about that. I wasn't looking forward to a layover in Newark at Christmas time. That would be crazy. In the end, that's the flight I picked. And then within a week, I got an update that my flight was changed. I assumed it was just a time change. NOPE. My first flight is now to Chicago. WHAT???? I've never been to Chicago, but every Christmas movie that included travel issues over Christmas takes place in Chicago. This is NOT the part of the Christmas movie that I want to live through. Although maybe there will be a meet-cute with a handsome fella that is also trying to get to Maine for Christmas and we will rent a car and drive together. Of course, a snowstorm will rage on and we will need to stop in a small idyllic town that has lost its Christmas spirit, and only he and I will be able to save Christmas. Mmm...I can practically taste the peppermint hot chocolate now. Okay, maybe that won't be so bad after all.
Going back to traveling. So I got moved to O'Hare Airport. I went from a 2-hour layover in Newark to a 40-minute layover in Chicago. I will be flying into terminal 1. When I was looking for a map of it to see where bathrooms and food are, I found one website that says to wear sneakers because it is one of the biggest terminals in the country and you may need to run between flights. WHAT??? Let me get this straight. My layover was reduced to less than an hour at a super large airport that experiences extreme weather during the extremely busy travel period around Christmas. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
I'm NOT Checking luggage! I'm not kidding. This wasn't the carrier that lost my luggage, but I'm not taking chances. I did get a carry-on suitcase with wheels. I tend to load up my carry-on and kill my shoulder carrying it around.
Good news! They adjusted the time and I will now have an extra 10 minutes between flights. Woo Woo! Hopefully, I will have time to pee. I know you'll be on the edge of your seat waiting. Trust me, I'll let you know.
Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to enjoy the end of the Christmas Movie that I have been watching as I type this. And then I think I'll put on a couple Ted Lasso episodes. I need to write my notes for Season 1: Episode 4 For The Children. That will be a fun one to post about. It's another great music episode.
I appreciate you.
Have a Blessed Evening,
Jennie
xoxo
jhendersonfit@gmail.com
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yeah, sorry, I messed up and the "l" is missing....I need an assistant :-)
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