Very tired person’s soothing self-care checklist for Christmastime
The most wonderful / sneezy / tired time of the year!?
Hello friends,
I needed a check in with myself today so thought we could check in on each other. How are you? Hope you’re feeling ok. How am I? I’m run down, bit fed up and want to find a way to look after myself again. I know them all, my toolbox is overflowing with self care tools but I’ve forgotten to do any of them. Sound familiar?
So…here are a few quick wins for all of us who are trying to feel a bit better this month. No mention of baths or candles (though I love both, who doesn’t?). Nothing life changing or ground breaking either, just little reminders of what you might want to add in or take away from the day today.
Looking at these Christmas tree pics of me as a baby and baby Summer (1985 vs 2023) I’m reminded of that familiar message to ‘talk to yourself like you would your best friend’ or as I’m trying to ‘look after yourself like you are a tired grumpy baby!’. Sending a big hug to all the tired grumpy big and small babies out there who are reading this. Christmas time and family gatherings are a peak moment for our most wounded parts of our inner child to appear so let’s take care of ourselves.
My biggest gift to myself could probably be to try to stop rushing. I haven’t had time to read any of the parenting books I bought 2 years ago but I get the gist that one of the universal top parenting tips is… “try not to rush your child” (guilty).
On really busy days, when I’m bull in a china shopping around, I say to myself, just go 1% slower, Melissa!!! One day (it happened to be my birthday) when I was rushing as usual, I slipped and fell down the stairs, only 3 stairs but it was 3 too many. I ended up going to hospital in an ambulance & in serious pain for months & months afterwards.
With that said, here’s all I want for Christmas (apart from world peace first and foremost)
- Rest, nourishing food, healthy happy loved ones, a pause from my worries -
I thought about what would help me with the above and wrote a list, here it is for you too in case it’s helpful. I’ve put ‘could’ instead of ‘should’ next to them as I want a break from all the so-called ‘shoulds’ and ‘needs’ and ‘musts’ at this time of year :
Nice things we could eat
Quick things on toast - Grilled cheese on toast - with grated halloumi, recipe*
Soothing soups broccoli ginger rice soup & winterstrone (winter minestrone).
Comfort food Cosy caramelised French onion gnocchi, recipe*
Warming spices a pinch here and there of these delicious spices with their supportive health properties is one of my favourite easy habits to get back into the habit of doing daily. Each day, I pick one of the below - add a little ground cinnamon to porridge or a pinch of turmeric & black pepper to soups or a few cloves to tea ( good for coughs) or a few crushed cardamom cloves to simmered apples on yoghurt.
Restorative snacks like a little delicious digestion friendly miso in a hot mug of broth, nut butter on apple slices, whole food 5 ingredient chocolate truffles, Happiness Balls or 2 minute chocolate dipped clementines.
Nice things we could listen to
A podcast with gentle voices not shouty voices (no judgement, I myself am a shouty voiced person)
Solfeggio frequencies - type these into your search engine to relax
Comforting stories. Old favourite childhood books on audio
Nice things we could do
A walk, doesnt matter how long it is or where it is
A nap, dont worry if you cant sleep, just rest your eyes as my Mum would say
Journal out the year and reflect on what I want more of and less of next year - stayed tuned as I’ll be sending out journal prompts before the new year.
Have a potter at home. I saw someone talk about puttering vs declutterring and how yes declutterring can be super helpful for all sorts of reasons but sometimes we just need a chance to putter. And I was intrigued, what is puttering!? Then realised puttering is the same as pottering. Which is one of my favourite things to do and makes me feel so happy.
Take myself to bed 15 minutes earlier. Half an hour earlier feels unachievable right now but let’s split the difference at 15. I like to spray magnesium on the soles of my feet and legs before bed, I feel the difference.
Nice things we could drink
Kombucha and Kefir to support digestion
Homemade teas and infusions - two tea recipes here
Mushroom drinks - these are tasty and these
Hot chocolate - I love to melt a square of mint chocolate in it or sprinkle a little cinnamon, salt and cayenne into mine.
Things we could (try) not to do
Limit news and limit social media
Put an ‘out of office on’ even if I’m still very much in the office
Avoid comparing, judging and expecting (the three thieves of joy!)
And….in case you missed them, here’s some seasonally appropriate newsletters I’ve sent that you might like:
What you might like to freeze ahead* for the festive period
A Brussels Sprout special here *(save them for January too)
Kitchen Christmas Countdown to help prepare for the *big* meal here
Small biz christmas gift guide
18 Christmas recipes * to pick from (don’t even think about doing them all!!!!)
Asterisk * after a post means that particular post is part of the paid subscribers batch of newsletters. There are lots of free ones too but paid subscibers can access these exclusive posts.
*See you* on Boxing Day when I’ll be sending out easy recipes and ideas for using up whats in your fridge. Wishing you a restful Christmas time.
Thanks for being here and I’m sending you good cheer at this time of year, Melissa
Excellent glasses! I hope in these tired short days you have a moment to reflect how much you have done this year. I know there's been so real crappiness but there's also been your BRILLIANT book which has brought pleasure and helped so many people. We use it even more than when it first arrived, which is such a contrast with most cookbooks x
Needed! Thank you for the reminder my lovely 💚