Ep 28: Navigating Festive Stress: Finding Joy and Balance During the Festive Season

Why can the end of the year feel so emotionally charged - equal parts festive, frantic, and, for many, deeply stressful? In this Headflex episode, co-hosts Rebecca Walker and Diane Williams get real about the pressures of the holiday season. They share practical ways to manage workplace and personal expectations, flex your boundaries, and avoid ending up burnt out on December 24th.

Drawing from their coaching expertise, Rebecca and Diane discuss how tiredness, loneliness, and the ‘shoulds’ of the holidays can weigh on us, and why understanding your ‘stress signature’ is the starting point for real change. This episode serves up actionable insights and reflection questions to help you thrive, not just survive the festive period.

Here are the Highlights:

00:00 Intro: How to survive the stressful festive season

00:22 Exploring common workplace and home stressors

02:31 How to deal with the pressure of expectations

03:05 The power of social connection

04:16 Why ‘shoulds’ create more stress

05:19 The introvert/extrovert divide. Social battery drain versus loneliness and FOMO

06:18 How to stop overcommitting at work & socially

07:47 Recognising your personal ‘stress signature’

09:12 Creating safe spaces to talk honestly and support each other

10:14 Reframing deadlines: Can tasks wait until January?

12:22 Identifying unnecessary tasks (at work and at home) to reduce drain

13:39 Why a January lunch might beat squeezing in another event

17:14 Joyful priorities, creating pauses, finding nourishment

19:06 Christmas dinner plans and how food connects and nourishes

Connect with us at Headflex:

Email: [e-mail].

Website: www.headflex.co.uk

Instagram: www.instagram.com/head.flex/

Connect with Rebecca Walker: www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccawalker13/Connect with Diane Williams: www.linkedin.com/in/dianewilliams1

Produced by Winter Audio