The gift of Holiday stress
- Dec 2, 2025
- 2 min read
I used to buy into the idea that the holidays "created" stress. Before Tempered, I was a professional event planner, and December was by far my busiest season. It was easy to say, all this extra stuff is causing my stress.
And sure, the stuff extra contributes, but it doesn't create stress. What’s truer is this:
The holidays don't create stress.
They reveal it.
This time of year rubs up against your stress patterns and habits that you carry all year.
The people-pleasing? It’s a pattern that was already there.
The self sacrificing? Already there.
The loneliness? Already there.
The procrastination? The tendency to overdo and burn out? The pressure you’ve normalized? Definitely already there.
The season just feels extra stressful because there’s “more stuff” running down your existing wiring - which illuminates, and amplifies, alllll the feelings that have been quietly accumulating beneath the surface.
Any stress you brushed past
The emotions you shelved
The patterns you’ve been meaning to unlearn
The need for the boundaries you keep meaning to set
And yes, it can feel crappy. But let me offer you a reframe:
The holidays act like a spotlight, illuminating how you live.
Let this be a gift.
Let this be an invitation, an opportunity, to reflect so you can build the self-awareness required to choose something different in your all-year-round life. Notice what you’re stressing about over the season, and then reflect on how and where that plays out for you in the rest of your life.
If you’re noticing tenderness, exhaustion, or old patterns resurfacing, nothing is wrong with you. The holidays are just shining a spotlight on what’s been here all along, and that illumination is a gift - because now you can work with it. We can’t work with what we don’t see.
And if this season feels like it’s revealing more than you want to hold alone, I created this gentle support container:
Held for the Holidays is gentle, focused, micro-coaching container that will steady you through the emotional intensity of the season.
THIS ONE IS FOR: The host who makes the magic for everyone else. The solo-flyer who feels extra isolated this time of year. The boss babe with to-do lists a mile long and end-of-year insanity topping your tree. PROGRAM FEATURES: Three 60 - minute 1:1 sessions* Audio Messaging Support* Personalized intention setting & rituals to help you stay rooted
It's a short-term, but high-touch container where you can land, breathe, focus - and be held in this time of a-lot-ness.
It's a gift of self-care. |
