Celebrating You.

Self care tips to make this holiday season a bit more mindful and a lot less stressful.

While this year’s holiday season may be looking a little different than what we’re used to, it’s still the perfect opportunity to centre ourselves and celebrate the love that surrounds us. Bring a little light to what has been a cloudy year! Where to start? That’s simple, start by celebrating you. When we take care of ourselves, we’re better suited to take care of others.

That’s why we at Louise Parker wanted to share with you some of our secret wellness tips to prepare yourselves for the holidays!

1. Carve Out Personal Time

The holidays always seem to be a tad more stressful than our day to day life. It’s ironic really, all the different tiny pressures that come with Christmas presents and dinners, end up with us needing a vacation from this ‘vacation’. To avoid stress, and unnecessary damage it can end up doing to our body (from that binge to the energy drain) it’s important to carve out at least 10 minutes a day for you. Practice anything that allows you to clear your mind, draw yourself a bath or try meditating. Anything that will allow you to check-in with yourself and make you feel more connected and present!

Tips: Try practicing mindful breathing – inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 and release for 8. If you want why not try saying a little mantra with each breath in and out – “I am thankful for…”

2. Go Outside!

What better way to practice being more present than getting in touch with nature? An early morning walk before everyone wakes up can really do some miracles. So many studies have uncovered the benefits that come with being in nature from reducing feelings of anger and anxiety to improving your mood in general. Not to mention it’ll help keep you active, and just feeling more active is one of the best ways to keep you motivated from not giving up on your holiday workout!

Tips: Bundle up and head outside! Take a walk whether it’s with a friend, your dog, or by yourself, make sure you look around, take in all the nature and leave out all the stress.

3. Set Goals

Little reminders can really go a long way and ooh don’t you just love the satisfaction of ticking off boxes. Setting goals at the beginning of the day is a great way to not let the festive frenzy spin us out of control! Remember those 10-minutes a day for yourself we were talking about? Jot them down. That walk outside? Jot that down too. From reminding yourself to start the day with a tall glass of water to even simpler things like remembering to breathe, a list of goals can act as a hearty reminder that you do have things under control.

Tips: Make this goal list a little different than your ‘daily to do list’. Fill this one up with reminders of what to do to make yourself feel better; this goal list should be a me-list.

So with the holidays just around the corner we hope that these few tips can help you get a head start on managing any holiday worries. Remember this season is all about love and the more love we show ourselves inwards the more we’ll be able to share outwards!