[Alicia Davis] Welcome to “De-stressing for the Holidays, Part Two.” So we’re hoping that last week if you were able to watch, we really were talking about taking care of your mental health and your emotional health. And today Stacie, we want to talk about our physical health and come up with maybe a little mini-care plan. Right?

[Stacie Watson] Absolutely. You know, it was interesting, as we were talking about this topic and thinking about this whole physical health in the same way that we’re thinking about how do we support ourselves emotionally, and how do we support ourselves mentally… You know, one of the things that we’re doing in my family is we’re taking a trip over the holiday actually, just after the holiday, and we’re incorporating some hiking into that trip, which I think will be an interesting way for us, for many of us, to experience a different part of the country than we’ve experienced before. And also will be a way for us to connect in a different way – as opposed to sitting around a dinner table, or even sitting around a game table – to be out in nature together. And I know that’s not everybody’s thing, and I’m excited about it because I think it’s gonna be a nice way for us to be able to be together differently. And I was thinking about, that’s kind of part of my physical health care plan for me.

[Alicia Davis] I love that. I love that. You know, for me, it’s been a lot of juggling a lot of things, my dog just tore her ligament in her knees. So we’ve got all kinds of extra things going on. Our daughter’s coming in today. We’ve got the rest of our family coming in the rest of this week. So it just seems like there is a lot of juggling. And I have found myself trying to remember to take a purposeful pause. Like literally, I was wrapping presents the other day, and I was like, okay, I just need to sit back and take a breath because I was just starting to get all overwhelmed with boxing them up and getting to the post office. And like my mind just got away from me. And so it’s kind of multipurpose, right? When we take a purposeful pause, it can really help us on all levels. And I love that you’re taken to do a hike with a family. That’s fantastic. You know, for us, we’re going to visit my family – my dad in West Virginia – and we probably won’t be hiking. God bless him. He’s 91 and I don’t think we’ll be hiking and you know, we have… forgot the name of… one of those 3d things…

[Stacie Watson] Oh, virtual reality.

[Alicia Davis] Yeah, virtual reality! So we play ping pong. So we might be playing ping pong. Yeah, and you know, I don’t know about you, Stacie. But just trying to be a little bit mindful about what we’re eating can be helpful. I mean, I know that I eat more sugar, there’s always cookies, there’s always something. And even if we make one different choice, I think that can be helpful.

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, I think it’s even just being mindful period, right, just being really aware of making a choice to indulge or maybe even overindulge, but I’m doing it from a place of mindfulness and consciousness and decision-making, as opposed to sort of being unconscious and getting caught up in the moment. And that’s why I think intentionality, that’s really where that comes into this idea of having a care plan for the holidays, right? Really being intentional. Now, maybe when we’re not quite in all of the frenzy, or not all that’s coming about how we want to approach that, right?

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And it’s just really thinking about one thing, you know, what’s one thing that you might do to take care of your mind state or, you know, notice your feelings or move your body or, you know, it can also be very much about, really, what are you looking forward to? I’m looking forward to dinner with my dad – it’s the third year we’ve done it. We get all of the China that he bought for my mom whenever they were first married, and it’s like, it’s very special. And so it’s like tuning in and really paying attention to those moments that that we can have around the dinner table together and just laughing and being silly. And you know, for me, I think something just also thinking about what’s something you can let go of. Yeah, you know, like, it might be like, you’re not having, you know, maybe it’s letting go of visiting a friend or a relative or maybe it’s letting go of, you know, doing all the cooking or maybe it’s letting go of just feeling you know, expecting that you’re going to feel one way or another. Just be kind to yourself and…

[Stacie Watson] Right.

[Alicia Davis] Right?

[Stacie Watson] I think for many of us, you know, letting go also can mean letting go of some of the expectations we have for kind of what the holiday looks like or how it works. You know, I think we get these sort of Hallmark ideas in our minds about that. And maybe it’s not always quite that way. And so I think it can be helpful just to let go of those maybe unrealistic expectations and just be in the moment and it is what it is and to be able to just be present for that, as opposed to sort of stuck on the expectation part of it. So that’s letting go, at least for me, I think that’s letting go.

Alicia Davis
That I love that. So I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And we are the co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies and we are wishing you and your loved ones just blessings and care for yourself and just wonderful holidays, whatever that means to you.

[Stacie Watson] Absolutely. Happy holidays, everyone.

[Alicia Davis] Happy holidays.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.