Emotional Resilience in the Holiday Chaos

The holidays are always great, but we’d be lying if we said they didn’t come with their own custom package of emotional turmoil.

For those of us that spent it with our extended family, I’m sure there were moments when one of the cousins blew up and shouted at someone, or maybe the aunties keep bugging that one cousin about when she’s going to get married.

We all witnessed some family this holiday; am I the only one?

Designed My Images Using Canva

I brought up the second example because that’s exactly what happened at my family house, and let’s just say, my cousin did not take it lightly. I personally had some moments where I was on the brink of losing it and exploding.

I had to quickly leave the environment and deal with it the best way I knew how. When I experience unpleasant moments that threaten and test my patience and mental strength, I usually explore a lot of options that I have perfected over the years.

Depending on the situation, I often pick the easiest one to accomplish. I’ll share them below;

Take long walks

I usually choose to go on long walks as a last resort to deal with big emotions or when I know that I’m about to cry. And the duration of the walk usually depends on how long the cry lasts. It might not seem very long, but it often is.

In fact, yesterday, I had a conversation with my mom in which certain words were exchanged and she said some hurtful things. I got so heated and sad that I immediately took off on a 30 minute walk alone. I cried for a significant part of the walk.

But this exercise gave me the avenue to practice some introspection. I took an inward and objective look at the situation and consciously helped myself process my emotions. After the walk, I felt a thousand times better and more confident.

Journaling

Journaling and I go way back. I’ve been journaling since even before I knew what journaling itself was. Any time I experienced some unexplainable or uncomfortable emotion growing up, my first instinct would be to write it down and go from there.

After doing that, what I realized was that, as I wrote, I felt the burden lift off my shoulders. It’s almost like talking to someone about your feelings and receiving a listening ear. Except its better, I think, because nobody gets to be in your business and you won’t have to worry about being talked about.

But this shouldn’t be taken as a substitute for actually sharing your feelings with trusted friends and people. It just helps us understand ourselves more because it gives us the opportunity to observe our feelings through an objective lens, while also making us feel better and serving as a stored memory we can always come back to.

Admiring Nature

This might seem weird at first, but nature has a way of making us feel better. I hear there’s even some science to back it up. Whether it be taking a walk or looking for a spot to sit in the field and take in a bit of the trees and flowers. This definitely contributes greatly to resetting our minds and moods.

I remember one time at night, I couldn’t sleep. Alone in my lodge room, I lay sprawled out on my bed, tossing and turning. The clock read 11:50pm but the atmosphere outside told a different story. It was as bright as a normal afternoon.

I couldn’t resist the urge to go outside; it was as if the moon beckoned onto me. I put on my slippers and headed out. When I got outside, I was greeted with the most magnificent and glorious view of the moon. It shone so brightly, it was almost blinding. I became mesmerized and couldn’t look away.

I sat down and stared for some minutes, appreciated the moment and headed back in. The sleep that followed was the most peaceful one yet.

These are a few of the things I do when I need to regulate my emotions, and they have never failed me. If you have other ways you also regulate your emotions, kindly share them with me in the comments below. I’d love to add them to my collection and try them out.

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!

---

Images used belong to me.