How was your holiday? This year my family decided to go to a restaurant and I have to tell you…I loved it! No shopping, no preparing, no cooking, no cleaning…just eat and go. Some of you may be clutching your pearls at the thought of a restaurant on Thanksgiving…me…I thought it was awesome.

So what now?! Well, it’s time for you to focus on YOU.

The holidays (or any family event), and all the stress that surrounds them takes a lot out of all of us and you need to take some time for yourself to process, regroup and move forward.

This week’s topic: Self-care is more than just a hot bath…

You’ve spent this past month thinking about how you want to show up for your family, identifying your personal boundaries and determining your action plan if your boundaries are violated.

This is why setting aside time for a little (or a lot) of self-care is so vital right now.

I’m all for long, hot baths and lighting candles but the kind of self-care I recommend is taking a few moments to reflect on what you’ve learned about yourself, praise yourself, and finally take some time to take good care of YOU!

Action Step: Reflect, Praise and Self-Care

REFLECT:

Grab that journal and answer these questions:

• What was it like having a plan for a holiday with your family?
• What parts of your plan worked? What didn’t work?
• What do you need to do differently for the upcoming holidays in December or for next year?

PRAISE:

After you answer those questions, I want you to take some time and praise yourself for doing the work on yourself, for showing up in a new more mature way and for enforcing your personal boundaries.

This may be the hardest thing I’ve asked you to do all month long…stop for a moment and praise yourself. Pat yourself on the back. Give yourself a big hug. I know it feels weird and a little corny but it’s an important step because you deserve it.

SELF-CARE

And finally…it’s time for some good old-fashioned self-care. Set aside a day (or as much time as you can) to either sleep all day or go to the movies in the middle of the afternoon or get a mani/pedi even if no one will see your feet all throughout winter.

It’s easy to keep your head down and push forward and you may even think you’re stronger for it but if you don’t set aside time to rest now you’ll be really burned out by the end of the year. This is something I struggle with myself but each time I shut everything off and take some time for myself I find that the next day I’m more motivated and focused.

Have a great week.