Ep 40 Carrying the Holiday Spirit Throughout the Year: Strategies for Everyday Joy with Marta Hamilton

Ever found yourself yearning to bottle up that holiday joy and sprinkle it throughout the year? That's exactly what we tackle in our latest TeleWellness Hub podcast episode. I'm Marta Hamilton, and I'm here to guide you through the fog of post-holiday emotions, offering a lighthouse of practical steps and warm encouragement. We’ll explore how to validate your feelings and use them as stepping stones to reignite your inner spark, ensuring the festive cheer resonates beyond the seasonal festivities.

In our conversation, we delve into three reflective questions that aren't just food for thought, but a feast for the soul. We talk about finding joy in the small, everyday things—like the comfort of a cozy cup or the satisfaction of reaching out to those we cherish—and how these moments can brighten our days all year round. I'll share how self-compassion and acceptance of our emotional spectrum can lead to growth and resilience. Lastly, we discuss setting goals that truly resonate with our deepest values, creating a compass for personal success and fulfillment. Tune in for an episode that's a heartfelt reminder of the magic we can create every single day.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome back amazing listeners to the telewarnist podcast, where we delve into topics that impact your well-being. I'm your host, marta Hamilton, and in today's episode, I wanted to dedicate it to those who may be feeling the post-holiday blues, however many. This starts as early as Halloween, thanksgiving and other holidays. I understand that this time of year can bring a mix of emotions, just personally, in my own life, professionally, from what I have been taught and learned through continuing education and research, and also just from a practical experience with my clients. So I'm here to offer some support, encouragement and actionable steps to uplift your spirits if you are someone who's feeling a little bit of those post-holiday blues. The post-holiday period can be challenging for many, and it's essential to recognize that these feelings are 100% valid. According to a study by Smith and colleagues published in 2018 in the Journal of Psychology, acknowledging and understanding our emotions about this is a crucial step in promoting mental well-being. So let's start by asking three reflective questions. I'd like for you to think about what aspects of the holiday season brought me joy. How can I incorporate those elements into my daily life? So you can ask yourself this, because you can realize that there's a lot of magic and a lot of joy and peace on earth during the holidays, a big focus on that, even from a social media perspective. We see a lot of images and descriptions and just the idea of other people have joy, other people have peace. This is ways that I can do it. We try to replicate it and even with consumerism, there's this idea that we need to buy presents and gather and there's joy. Joy and peace on earth is a big part of the marketing and advertising in that. So I think the holidays puts joy in our forefront, but it's not limited to this holiday season. So I'm going to really encourage and challenge all of you listeners to think how can I incorporate elements that brought me joy into my daily life? Maybe it was allowing yourself to get cozy, lighting candles, having a coffee, maybe it was more time together with family and friends, and maybe you can't do that physically, but we can be more intentional about calling loved ones, writing letters. In the holidays, a lot of people send cards and for either year. There's no reason we can't do that during other months of the year.

Speaker 1: 3:12

Another question I'd like for you to ask that's helpful and reflecting is in what ways can I practice self-compassion and acknowledge that it's okay to feel a range of emotions during this time. Again, in what ways can I practice self-compassion and acknowledge that it's okay to feel a range of emotions during this time? And it may be that you need to allow yourself to jog it out, do something physical. A lot of people need a lot of somatic body movement, whether it's jogging, kickboxing, yoga, sweating it out, taking a bath and it's okay to have a range of emotions during this time, to feel sadness, to feel grief, to feel loss, to feel excitement, to feel the adrenaline rush and then crash. How can you practice self-compassion? Maybe there's journaling, maybe it's reaching out to a therapist or a coach Therapists if you're working on some stuff that you realized from your past that's affecting you right now. Or coach, because you want to work on goals, moving forward and to develop more self-compassion. Therapists can also help with that.

Speaker 1: 4:29

The last question that I'd like for you to think about and it can be a really powerful reflective question is how can I create realistic and attainable goals for the upcoming year that align with my values and aspirations, my dreams, my goals? You know, it's interesting because when we notice that, if you work in business, if you work for a company, or even when you step foot into a big grocery store, for example, they will display their values and their mission statement on the wall. If you are an employee, you probably have seen their mission and value statement somewhere. You know that you are being measured. All of your work and productivity and performance is in relation to the values and mission statement of the company. And it's interesting because, although values and mission statements are all over the place, we very rarely think about it for ourselves. I see this come up so much in my work with therapy and especially with acceptance and commitment therapy act they call, act for short. We really look at values, and it's interesting to allow yourself the freedom to figure out what even are my values. So maybe it's something that could be helpful when, when asking yourself this question how can I create realistic and attainable goals for the upcoming year that align with my values and goals and dreams and aspirations?

Speaker 1: 6:06

Maybe the first step to be able to answer that question is creating your own mission statement. Maybe it's something like my mission for this upcoming year is to X, y and C. Is it to be of service? Maybe it's to serve and volunteer. Maybe it's to be transparent. Maybe it's to be vulnerable and share. Maybe it's to create more financial freedom and to feel empowered. Maybe it's to be more gentle in your communication with other people. Maybe your mission is to be I don't know. It could be so many things.

Speaker 1: 6:47

This is something that I think coaches do really well, and so I do recommend, if you need some clarity with this, there are coaches out there. You can find them on, of course, telewannishubcom. You can search for providers based on coaches. But I think this is a really important question to ask yourself, because once you gain clarity on your values and your mission, that'll help direct your actions, the steps you need to take. It'll create shifts in your schedule and how you spend your time and how you connect with others. So I really think that, when it comes to the post-holiday blues, being able to focus on what you're working towards and what will bring you fulfillment is really helpful. So, now that we've talked about three questions that can help combat those post-holiday blues, I want to talk about three research-backed actions to help you navigate the post-holiday blues. So we talked about three thoughts or questions. We were in the mind there and now we're gonna get into actions in the body.

Speaker 1: 8:01

So the first thing that is really backed by research is expressive writing, aka journaling. So research by in the journal at Normal Psychology, for example, suggests that engaging in expressive writing about your emotions can lead to improved mood and well-being. It's also been shown in controlled studies that those people that journal have reduced symptoms physical symptoms, that they're undergoing different treatments, including breast cancer. So taking a few minutes each day to jot down your thoughts and feelings can be really helpful and ideally it is with the pen and paper. So there's just research. For some reason that's just really helpful and I think there's a connection there between, I guess, movement and you're seeing your words, you're thinking your words and you're writing your words. But if that's not possible, there's also research that shows that typing it out is helpful, that writing it on your phone. Maybe have a note section on your phone. You can also even maybe some therapists love to hear your journal entries. Maybe you have a therapist that you can read some of your journal entries with and you can talk about that and explore that in a session. So taking some time to jot down your thoughts and feelings can be really helpful. There are so many styles of journaling I have not I haven't explored all of them. To be honest, I wish full disclosure. I wish I was better about journaling I'm better about my to-do list and journaling but being able to have a piece of paper available next to your nightstand so that you can kind of bring down your feelings and thoughts could be a first step.

Speaker 1: 9:51

A second action that you can do is mindful movement. So studies in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that incorporating mindful movement, such as yoga or gentle stretching, can actually alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. So consider integrating a short routine of movement to boost your mood. Lastly, the connecting with others. This research, including in the Journal of Medicine, emphasizes the importance of social connections for overall well-being. So there's so much research that social support systems are helpful in predicting the ability for people to have even reduced hospital stays, improved mood and feelings of optimism and well-being. So reach out to friends or family members, even if it's just for a brief chat or a FaceTime call or whatever virtual gathering you'd like to do.

Speaker 1: 10:57

So remember you're not alone in feeling the post-holiday blues. The fact that there's research on this shows that this is something that happens for a lot of people, and many people share similar experiences. So if this is you. It's okay to seek support. Start by asking yourself those reflective questions and you can take small, intentional actions as well, so that you have that mind-body connection and you can foster a positive mindset and embrace the opportunities for renewal that the post-holiday period brings. Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Tell-A-Won't-It's-Hop podcast. I hope that this insight and these actions inspire you to navigate the post-holiday blues with resilience and optimism. I'm wishing you a season of self-discovery and renewed positivity and until next time, take care.