When All Is Not Calm and Bright
The holidays invite us to feel calm, bright, joyful, and warm. Yet for many, the season brings something very different: tension building under the surface, a dysregulated nervous system, and a sense of being pulled in too many directions at once.
Anyone who has experienced burnout knows this is not sustainable—during the holidays or any time of year. Our bodies know first, but we don’t always listen. Instead, we slip into a chronic survival state that drains our calm, curiosity, confidence, creativity, and more.
Survival is not failure. It’s physiology.
It’s your nervous system trying to protect you when the world becomes too much, too fast, too soon.
But it can feel unnerving—especially during a season when you’re trying to smile, show up, host, lead, wrap, organize, and hold everything together with a bow while unraveling inside.
When Calm and Bright Isn’t Your Reality
You might notice:
A tight chest
Shoulders creeping up toward your ears
Shallow breathing
A foggy mind that can’t seem to prioritize
A sense of pressure with no clear source
These sensations are not inconveniences. They are information—signals from your body telling you that your system needs support, not more pushing.
And this is where somatic awareness becomes essential.
Somatic awareness helps us recognize the early signs of overwhelm before we enter full survival mode. It reconnects body and mind so we can choose our response rather than react from habit. When we learn to Notice, Name, and Navigate our internal experience, we can inhabit our optimal self more consistently.
A Small First Step: Start with Sensation
If the holidays feel less calm and bright and more tight and overloaded, begin with something simple:
Notice your physical sensations.
To support you, I’ve created a free guide:
Inside, you’ll find:
Five specific sensations that commonly signal overwhelm
A guided Notice–Name–Navigate prompt for each
A one-minute grounding practice you can use anytime, anywhere
