Practicing Wellness During the Holidays

It’s funny that I’m writing this topic on gift giving, as I just finished all my holiday shopping and boy do I have to say it was stressful, but I did it anyway. That’s the key to keeping your cool during the holiday season when multiple priorities end up on your plate; ideally the same type of prioritization we have to do at work. Since it can be pretty tricky to keep our cool when it comes to overindulging on holiday foods, I try to keep the same mind set and control that I do when it’s not holiday season.
Even though I enjoy spending the holidays with family and friends, I always tell myself that it really is just another day but by all means don’t skip out on that potluck at work :). I carry out my same regimen of working out before work (day shift and night shift) even on the holidays because I belong to a gym that is open on the holidays so I can hold myself accountable. Sticking to my normal every day routine, within reason, on my off days and holidays allows me to handle the stresses during this time of year a little bit easier in order to maintain my wellness.
As I may have mentioned in previous posts that our wellness – physical and mental – is of the utmost importance as nurses, allowing us to provide the best care to our patients, and I believe that goes to say for the holidays as well. Sometimes it is hard to not be entwined with family and swallow the fact we’re missing time with them. I find it helps to either keep my phone on Do Not Disturb or let my family know I will have very little time to talk, allowing my FOMO to lessen just a bit. It also helps that most work places allow us to work every other holiday so it makes up for missed time. Just remember that work comes first and keeping in mind that nice holiday pay you’re making, makes it a little less stressful when you finally have time to do your holiday shopping you may have missed out on the holiday before. 🙂

Sydney Adelstein is a 2016 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Nursing.