Holiday Mental Health Support (Part 2)
Episode 44: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
This episode continues our seasonal series on navigating mental health challenges during the holidays. Amanda shares listener-submitted struggles and offers tangible, compassionate support for managing emotional overwhelm, social gatherings, expectations, and more.
What We Cover in This Episode
- Managing overwhelm and shutdown at holiday gatherings
- The role of anticipatory anxiety and how to work with it
- Redefining success and expectations during the holidays
- Finding small, meaningful moments of magic without burnout
- A powerful year-end ritual to reflect and reset
Navigating Holiday Events Without Overwhelm
One of the most common listener submissions was about feeling activated or shut down at gatherings—and the anxiety that builds beforehand. Amanda offers grounding strategies: taking planned breaks, finding quiet spaces like the bathroom or car, and creating a signal system with a trusted person for co-regulation.
Anticipatory anxiety is framed as an overestimation of threat and an underestimation of your ability to handle it. Building confidence in your coping capacity—by creating exit plans, identifying your reasons for attending, and reinforcing that you have a choice—can shift your internal state toward safety.
Redefining Success and Setting Boundaries
Another major theme? The exhaustion of meeting expectations—yours and others’. Especially if your sense of worth has been tied to people-pleasing.
Amanda invites listeners to define their own version of holiday success, separating internal values from inherited obligations. For one listener (a Rise member), she offers a heartfelt invitation to bring this into coaching and journal through:
- Which expectations truly matter to you?
- What would you do differently this year if pleasing others wasn’t your measure of success?
She reminds us that discomfort is part of change. Regulating through the unease of saying no is how new patterns take root.
Magic Doesn’t Have to Be Massive
Listeners also named the stress of juggling “real life” with the pressure to make the holidays feel magical. Amanda normalizes scaling back. For her, magic this year looked like a 30-minute walk with her toddler and hot chocolate—not elaborate lights or endless gifts.
Instead of striving for the Pinterest-perfect experience, she encourages focusing on what feels meaningful and manageable. Gummy bears from Halloween in a stocking? That counts. Pacifiers for the baby? Practical magic.
Money, Guilt, and Doing What You Can
Finances came up too. Amanda gently reinforces that gifts, travel, and traditions are optional. Drawing names, skipping extras, and simplifying plans are all valid. The key is setting clear expectations—and having your own back when others don’t understand.
Don’t Rush Into New Year Pressure
Finally, there’s the looming “new year, new me” narrative. Amanda offers an alternative: regulated reflection.
Rather than pressure-filled goals, take time to reflect compassionately on:
- Where you are now
- What’s shifted over the past year
- Where you feel ready for something different
She invites everyone to join her free New Year’s Eve Circle on December 28 at 8pm ET. It’s a live, virtual event combining nervous system regulation, journaling, reflection, and communal release. Listeners describe it as the perfect balance of science and magic—and one of the most healing experiences of their year.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- You’re allowed to feel how you feel. Ask: what would help support me in this hard, even a little?
- Do less. If you had to choose one thing to drop to protect your energy, what would it be?
- Join the NYE Circle. This free event offers powerful community, regulation, and renewal as you close the year.
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.
