5 Tips to Calm Christmas Chaos

🎄Can you transform holiday chaos into a serene and joyful experience? Discover the answers in our latest episode, where we unlock five transformative strategies to harness the body's natural tools, especially the power of the vagus nerve, turning Christmas stress into tranquility. From the foundational importance of sleep and rest to the unexpected calming effects of a rocking chair and the joy of singing, we uncover simple yet profound methods to enhance your holiday well-being. You'll learn how preparation through list-making and thoughtful outfit choices can lighten mental loads and reduce stress, while setting clear boundaries ensures a season filled with genuine enjoyment.

Master the art of mindfulness this holiday season with practical tips designed to calm the vagus nerve and manage the seasonal whirlwind of tasks. By making organized lists, prioritizing what truly matters, and letting go of unnecessary chaos, you can create moments of peace and balance amidst the festivities. Plus, we've got a special treat for you—a free Vagus Nerve Reset video included in the show notes to support your journey toward calmness. Wellness begins with intentional steps, and it all starts here. Let’s embrace a holiday season where we take charge of our health and happiness, on our own terms.

Chapters

• 0:01 Strategies to Calm Christmas Chaos
• 14:02 Mastering Mindfulness for Holiday Calm

Transcript

Emily : 0:01

Today we're diving into five powerful strategies to calm Christmas chaos. You'll learn exactly how to use your body's natural tools, like supporting the vagus nerve, to go from frazzled to festive, from breathing techniques to mindful meals. I'm giving you actionable steps that you can use today to claim that calm. So let's break it down so we can enjoy holidays on our terms and just take it in. Welcome to it. Starts at VegasV. The podcast where holistic health meets modern living. I'm, emily, your guide to unlocking the power of the vagus nerve, which is your body's ultimate key to calm, connection and overall well-being. Together, we'll explore simple ways to nourish your mind and body with natural remedies, actionable tips and empowering stories. Whether you're here to reduce stress, restore balance or take charge of your health, you're in the right place, because wellness doesn't just happen. It starts at Vegas. Doesn't just happen. It starts at Vegas. Let's dive in.

Emily : 1:09

So the first one that needs to be a pillar is sleep. Sleep is the foundation and it's practically a non-negotiable. Everything happens based on how good or not so good our sleep goes. When we're able to sleep, we think clearer, we're calmer, just by default. Our body does like that internal cleaning while we go sleep and recover from the day before and when we skip that step we're already going to lag like automatically. So sleep needs to be on the priority list If we need to create a sleep routine using some tea or personally, I have alarm clocks. I talk about that. I use a lot of alarm clocks because I don't like paying attention to time and alarm clocks do that for me. So when I know I have to get my kids ready for bed or I need to have a certain bedtime, I definitely do use my alarm clock to help me say, hey, now's the time to start that. The next one, which is similar to sleep but different, would be rest, and this we're going to talk about, particularly if we have to go out and be cheerful and be the quote unquote on for doing an event or going to a Christmas party or Christmas Day when we're with relatives and maybe they brought friends that we're not really so sure about, make us not want to be there or uncomfortable, like that happens. That's life. So if you take moments before you go to your event, versus like hustling and bustling and getting ready, that will really help. So having that time before you need to go to just calm.

Emily : 2:56

I am a big proponent of the rocking chair. I think every home needs a rocking chair and that is a very soothing motion rocking chair. And that is a very soothing motion, it's very rhythmical and it settles our nerves down, especially if you're going somewhere where you're not really too keen on or you're an introvert by nature and you need to re-energize before you go. Use your energy I recommend that and then again do that after. It might be the same, just so you don't have to think of another thing to do. So if you take the rocking chair and you just rock without your phone, so no screen time, you just enjoy that rocking motion and calming those nerves down. You can do that before or after, or you might say you know what that felt, really great. But I know when I'm going to get home late and I'm going to settle down, just by getting in my favorite hoodie, get my blanket and re-energize, just by, like settling my mind down, that will help. So it helps us just recover and, again, it really does support us to sleep. When we come back, for later on in the day, you can also sing. Sing when you're driving to sleep. When we come back for later on in the day, you can also sing Sing when you're driving, sing when you're coming home. That helps calm down that vagus nerve which will then get you ready to be socially engaging with other people without feeling awkward, without feeling anxious about the next thing. So that brings us into our third step, which is prepare. You can helping that mental load by making lists, making sure you have everything. I like lists because it puts down what I try to keep in my mind and I no longer have to have when I try to keep in my mind and I no longer have to have that weight in my mind to remember. All I have to remember is that list, that one list, and it fills up all the 10 other things. You know it's like condensing tabs in your mind and I really like them.

Emily : 5:07

Another fun one for preparing is outfits. It's Christmas time. We can have like that ugly Christmas sweater and you can just buy one or two for like the rest of your. You know, for the next few years, like I wear the same Christmas sweater throughout the years and I might have, you know, just like one or two, but I just rotate them. I figure I'm using these once, maybe twice that month and they're funny. I like them. They lift my spirit up because they're kind of silly.

Emily : 5:34

So my way to prepare is knowing that's my outfit, that I get to wear. I know it by default and again it takes that mental stress and anxiety of what do I need to wear. So if you have family gatherings or if you have to do a Christmas party, just have some defaults so that that's one less thing. It's one less thing. You always know which one you're going to go to. You can jazz it up differently with different. You know jewelry or hair accessories or how your hair is done or shoes, but to have that base that helps everything else kind of fit together. You can work with it and you can tweak it. But it's that main core thing, kind of like making your meal plan. You think of the main core thing and then work the little things around it. That's kind of like making your outfit.

Emily : 6:26

You can also have prepared boundaries. This can be whether with individuals, or it can be after. You know a certain timeframe, if you know that your energy level just drastically drops after two hours. And then you know with self-awareness like I look angry because I'm pooped, and it's not that I don't enjoy being there, I'm just, I'm used to all of it up, it's all gone. And so you can say after two hours, I know my personal boundary for me to look friendly and engaged, I know that I'm up for that two hour mark. I just poop out and that's okay and it's fair to say that. Just be like I only have energy for this much. And you know, depending on the people that you are around, some might get it, some might not. But it's okay because you're looking for your health.

Emily : 7:23

You don't need to sacrifice your mental well-being just to support somebody else's happiness. And that's a hard lesson to learn sometimes, but it's very freeing and it becomes authentic to who you are and that is something that I love to support. I love to help people find their authenticity, because that's where the freedom lies. I want to help you calm the vagus nerve, to help you be more socially engaging, to feel more like yourself, to recover from burnout and all of those things are really good and we focus on those things, but ultimately it's so you can be who you are and that just it's a hard feeling to describe when you find it and it's an ongoing thing. You're always going to be growing, learning, doing different things, but to support that authenticity within yourself.

Emily : 8:21

Sometimes it's knowing your limits, preparing how to say it, kindly, being nice about those limits and not in somebody's face, being truthful about it, and you can all have that planned before. You don't have to go in and then fumble through the words or say the wrong things and then later have to apologize. Those situations happen, but it is something that you can prepare for. Then we're going to follow up with our fourth step and that will be doing something that makes you feel better. So this can be the before and after that we were talking about, but it can also be during.

Emily : 9:06

So it kind of goes back to the wearing the outfit. What do you feel good in? And sometimes we have to, you know, fiddle around. If it's Christmas party and you're not used to dressing up, you can still find an outfit that looks appropriate for the event, but something that you still feel good in, and that's why you try on outfits. That's why there's you can bring an outfit back to stores. You need to find something that you feel that you can be yourself in, and that's just one. You can also, you know food. What are you going to drink while you're at that place? What are you going to? You know, can you? Let's talk about the boundaries part. If you are a recovering alcoholic, you probably shouldn't be around those situations.

Emily : 9:57

So you can say you know what, I just can't make it, and that's all you have to say. Or you can be like I am only going to be drinking my tea or my coffee or whatever, insert your favorite beverage. But knowing and preparing yourself for success is very, very helpful. And there's all these little things. All these little things. You can only you pick what's your favorite and you say I'm going to incorporate that and it can be the same things it can. It doesn't have to be all these different ones. We're going to simplify it. So, if you like tea, you're going to be like I'm going to be festive, we're going to do some peppermint or maybe an apple cider and still enjoy it. But you don't have to make new things. Okay, I have to have it before and an after and the during. You can just be like I'm going to have peppermint tea for all of them and it's going to calm me down and I know that it's going to support my body in the right ways.

Emily : 10:55

Which brings us to our final last one, number five be mindful during your meals. What I mean by this one? Slowing down and enjoying the food. When you eat slower, that helps your digestion, which ultimately helps your vagus nerve. So the body talks back and forth and your GI tract is saying, yep, this is good, I'm not overloaded so fast, so hard. And then the vagus nerve goes great, that's what we want to hear, it's great feedback. And then the vagus nerve goes hey, we're all calm. And then the rest of the body feels better. It's all about the nerves just talk to each other. That's their main job is to say how are we handling this? Is it going well? So when you slow it down, the body goes okay, we're fine, we don't have to hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, get it all done. We can just enjoy it and slow down and be present with the people who are around.

Emily : 11:56

You. Sit next to the people that you enjoy talking to sit next to the people that you enjoy talking to Sit next. You know, let's say, you're on the quote-unquote adult table now, but you really enjoy talking to little kids because they're so creative and they create the funniest stories. And you want to just go sit at the kid table. No, that's fine, have fun with it. Enjoy those silly stories, because they are so out of nowhere sometimes and so mind-blowing other times. The kids are just sporadic and they're so much fun. And that is one way to say hey, I'm going to laugh during this meal and just be present.

Emily : 12:38

Slow down and everything will just fall into place. It's the rush, the hustle, bustle. That's where our anxieties start really sparking and to say, no, this is all good, it's going to make you feel better. Once you leave, once you get home, once it's time for bed, you won't have so many thoughts that have to settle down before you sleep, and then your body's going to be able to say, okay, thoughts are calm, we're all good. Now let's help clean up on a cellular level while we sleep, and that's what sleep does is help rejuvenate down to yourself. So that's why it's super duper important.

Emily : 13:23

So, going back in a nutshell, the five ways to calm Christmas chaos, to help that anxiety and mental stress and the mental load. One get your sleep. Two make sure you rest, rest. Three we can prepare as all the factors that we have control of Do something that makes you feel better, such as what outfit you're going to wear. And number five be mindful during meals. Be mindful during meals. And we are just going to wrap that up.

Emily : 14:02

I hope that you are able to find some of these tips, use them, tweak them, adjust them to how what's going on in your life, depending on if you've got, you know, 12 things you need to get done. Maybe it's time for that list. So each of these things are going to help your Vegas nerve calm down and enjoy the moments. So this season, you can just let that chaos go away. You've got this, so keep doing the good things and keep on breathing. Thanks for listening to. It Starts at Vagus. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you're ready to take the next step toward calm, grab my free Vagus Nerve Reset video in the show notes. It's quick and easy way to start feeling better today and until next time, remember, wellness starts at Vagus.