Holiday Mental Health Support (Part 1)
Episode 43: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
This is Part 1 of a listener-led holiday support series where Amanda responds directly to the most common seasonal struggles submitted by the audience. In this episode, she offers thoughtful, research-backed, and candid guidance on navigating holiday grief, loneliness, nontraditional family dynamics, and overstimulation with compassion and regulation.
What We Cover in This Episode
- Validating holiday loneliness and challenging internalized shame
- Understanding grief as a somatic, non-linear experience
- Tools for single parents managing emotional and co-regulation load
- How to practice nervous system care during a high-stress season
- Tactical nervous system regulation tools for busy schedules
Holding Space for Holiday Loneliness
The holidays often bring up feelings of loneliness, especially for those with small families, few friends, or unfulfilled expectations. Amanda invites listeners to pause and notice the storylines that shape their sadness—particularly ones rooted in “shoulds.” The belief that your life should look different by now can compound painful emotions.
By validating the emotional experience without making it wrong, we open the door to self-compassion. Amanda encourages listeners to ask:
- What does it look like to make space for loneliness instead of resisting it?
- What can I do (when I have capacity) to build the community I want?
There’s no quick fix for these feelings, but naming them, validating them, and exploring agency in response can shift the experience.
Grief Is Not Linear
Holiday grief hits differently. Whether it’s the first season after a loss or years down the line, memories can resurface with intensity. Amanda shares her own personal losses and reminds listeners that the body stores grief in ways that can bypass our logical timelines.
Understanding that grief often lacks a timestamp helps normalize intense waves of emotion. One moment, you’re okay; the next, you’re gutted. That doesn’t mean you’re back at square one. It means your body remembers, and that’s part of love and loss.
The invitation is not to fix grief, but to let it move through. Amanda shares: “There are these moment that gut punch you. And I’ve found that it’s easiest if I actually just let it, if I just let myself have those moments to fall to my knees, to fall apart. And then to settle, because it always settles, I always find a way back up. And each time I go through this process (of allowing deep grief and finding my way out of it) I become more confident in my ability to hold the love and the longing without drowing in the pain and the grief.”
Single Parenting, Co-Regulation, and Seasonal Exhaustion
For single parents (or anyone navigating a nontraditional family dynamic), the holidays can feel like an emotional and logistical minefield. One listener writes about the exhaustion of solo parenting a child who needs a lot of co-regulation.
Amanda validates the weight of that responsibility and encourages a two-part approach:
- Validate your reality: Grieve the ideal, and honor what is.
- Prioritize micro-care: Start with basic self-regulation anchors like consistent sleep, protein-rich meals, and bathroom check-ins (seriously).
Self-regulation is foundational for co-regulation. Inside Amanda’s Restore coaching program and Regulated Living Membership, these micro-moments of support are often the game changers for parents trying to hold it all.
Tactical Tools for Holiday Overload
This season doesn’t need more pressure. It needs more permission. Amanda offers rapid-fire tools you can experiment with:
- Get outside first thing in the morning for sunlight
- Eat a blood-sugar-friendly breakfast
- Own your “no’s” to protect your “yeses”
- Do a nervous system check-in every time you pee
- Use somatic tools like shaking or swaying to discharge stress
- Practice color spotting to reduce panic or overstimulation
- Anchor into glimmers of gratitude
None of these are revolutionary. But they’re effective when practiced consistently. If you’re navigating stress, grief, or overstimulation this season, choose one or two to start. Let them be enough.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- Your emotions are valid. You don’t have to justify your grief, loneliness, or overwhelm. Start by simply acknowledging: “It makes sense that I feel this way.”
- Grief softens with time. The intensity won’t last forever. The memories will hurt less, and joy will return.
- You can regulate in micro-moments. Tiny habits—breathing, checking in, saying no—help rebuild capacity, especially in hard seasons.
Looking for more personalized support?
- Book a FREE discovery call for RESTORE, our 1:1 anxiety & depression coaching program (HSA/FSA eligible & includes comprehensive bloodwork)
- Join me inside the Regulated Living Membership, a mental health membership and nervous system healing space (sliding scale pricing available)
- Join my Release Class – Monthly guided nervous system regulation class
- Order my book, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve today!
- Download free resources here
*Want me to talk about something specific on the podcast? Let me know HERE.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
