Everyone is all over the place with self help these days. It’s a huge buzzword right now. With the Brene Brown followers and Mel Robbins backers it’s no wonder the self help movement is on the rise. Okay, we’ve also been dealing with COVID and we all need some self help these days so that may have a part in things too.
One of the things most important during the holidays is giving thanks or gratitude. I remember one year at Thanksgiving we actually swam in the pool right before we had lunch. What are you going to do? It’s Texas LOL. Here we are back to that time of year where the leaves are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler and snow may be found on the ground. But not in Texas! It is hot year round. But I am still giving thanks . . .
People have been making masks and wearing masks for all kinds of reasons for thousands of years. We wear them as a form of entertainment like in a play, we wear them to disguise ourselves like in a costume party. Famous people wear masks or disguises so as not to be recognized. Masks were worn during Greek mythology times. They are worn as tools for telling a story during a rite of passage or recreating an event that happened in the past.
Drawing or coloring a Mandala is a form of art therapy that is a very popular thing right now. There are hundreds, probably thousands of adult coloring books out there that are of mandala designs. The art of drawing them as well as just coloring them has so much therapeutic power.
Recently a friend of mine’s teenage daughter was going through a difficult time. They were desperate to find a therapy style that would work to support her needs. And spent a great deal of time researching, talking and investigating different therapeutic styles that would support their daughter. A wind-up finding a CBT therapist and after weeks of intensive therapy. Their daughter is doing well. Her mom attributes it to CBT therapy and said that it was such a game-changer I should look into it and become CBT certified myself.
If the holidays are all about family, togetherness, food and fun, at least that’s what mine are about, then why the hell do I feel so much holiday stress? Shopping for the perfect gifts, budgeting for those gifts, wrapping and hiding those gifts(my brother and I were masters at finding the wrapped gifts my mom thought she had hidden well!). lol #sorrynotsorrymom Maybe we’re missing loved ones who have passed, or are no longer in our lives. Perhaps that one family member who has to talk all the time about his favorite orange president until you find yourself silently stabbing yourself under the table with a fork. Many people suffer from all these different types of stress during the holidays. So let’s chat about them and how to work to prevent the holiday blues from tarnishing your holiday mood.