Every year around this time we champion the benefits of cannabis to help manage holiday stress. This year is no different. Why? Simply put: shit be bonkers these days. Our customers, employees, and community mean the world to us and we want to spread as much cheer and knowledge that we can to help you breeze through this holiday season.
There’s a lot to love about the holidays. Getting together with family and friends, eating until you can’t possibly eat anything else – and then having a piece of pie, looking at extravagantly decorated homes, gift giving, and then eating some more.
Unfortunately, along with magic and joy, the holidays can bring an epic load of stress. In this post, we’ll explore how cannabis can help alleviate holiday stress, and equally important, how self-care practices like working out, setting boundaries, and prioritizing your needs can make a significant difference.
Understanding Holiday Stress
Holiday stress can come in many shapes and sizes. Some of the most common stressors include:
- Financial Pressure: Stanley drink cups are expensive! Travelling is far from cheap. Hosting a party can get ridiculously expensive. When will it end?!
- Social Overload: It’s easy to deplete our social butterfly reserves real quickly.
- Family Dynamics: Navigating complicated relationships is never fun. When will Great Aunt Myrtle learn not to ask when we’re going to settle down and start a family?! The audacity!
- Time Management: Balancing work, family, and personal life can feel as complicated as completing a Rubix cube blindfolded.
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Shorter, darker days in full effect/affect.
For those dealing with these challenges, it’s essential to consider a variety of strategies, from mindfulness and exercise to setting boundaries – and yes, cannabis too, if it aligns with your needs.
The Power of Self-Care During the Holidays
We’ll get to the green stuff in a jiff. But first, let’s chat about self-care practices. Here are some tried-and-true strategies to get you through the next couple of months.
- Prioritize “Me Time”: One of the most important things you can do is to acknowledge that you don’t have to say “yes” to everything. Taking time for yourself isn’t selfish, it’s abso-fucking-lutely necessary. Try reading a book, taking a bath, or taking 15 minutes to meditate.
- Stay Active: Physical activity is a proven stress-reliever. Exercise releases endorphins, which can improve your mood and reduce feelings of anxiety. So, take a walk around your neighborhood. Do 20 minutes of yoga. (Did you know most of the streaming services have at-home yoga workouts?!) Dance silly to your favorite holiday tunes – even if people are watching.
- Set Boundaries: Protect your mental health! It’s okay to limit the time spent at gatherings or politely declining events that feel overwhelming. Since it’s an election year, you might also want to avoid sensitive topics like politics or anything that would spark conflict. Saying “no” is a powerful tool for your mental health.
- Get Enough Sleep: Don’t sleep on sleep! It’s amazing the mental mountains you can climb with a restful night’s slumber.
Enhancing Your Me Time
Cannabis doesn’t need to be shared. (Although it’d be a lot cooler if you did.) Sometimes you need it all for yourself. Instead of “puff puff pass” it’s “puff puff MINE!”
These elevated bath bombs make for the perfect fizzy bath without staining your tub! (We can’t think of anything worse than having to clean a stained bathtub before the in-laws come.)
Six Fifths – Unicorn Body Butter
“It rubs the lotion on its skin, or it gets the blues again.” Okay, so that might not be the exact quote from Silence of the Lambs, but we’re using our creative license here to make a point. Take time to pamper yourself during your “me time” and soothe your skin with infused body butter by Six Fifths.
Supporting Physical Activity
Sativa-dominant cannabis strains can provide a much needed energy boost and enhance your focus, making your workouts more enjoyable and rewarding.
Lil Ray’s – Caffeine Shot
“Pairing THC and caffeine can enhance increased energy, alertness, creativity, and motivation, creating a unique experience.” Say less. You had us at cannabis + caffeine.
Fairwinds – Tincture, Spectrum 1200AM
This cannabinoids rich tincture is specifically designed to be non-intoxicating while helping you jumpstart your day or workout. Packed with helpful terpenes like limonene and caryophyllene, this tincture can help hold your hand through the holiday season.
Promoting Restful Sleep
Those who know, know. Cannabis + restful sleep go together like turkey and gravy. Sure, each on their own are awesome but paired together and you’re drooling the night away.
Mobius – Sleepy CBD Patch
It doesn’t get much easier than this to get a restful night’s sleep. Sleepy CBD patches by Mobius are placed on the wrist and designed to offer a metered transdermal absorption of CBD through your skin for up to 8 hours resulting in the kind of sleep you only dream about.
Hygge – Jokerz Candy Pre-Roll Joint
If you’re a toker looking for relaxing sleep, you’ve come to the right dispensary. Jokerz Candy pre-rolls by Hygge are the heavy joints you’re looking for to help you wander into sleepdom.
A Balanced Approach to Holiday Stress
While the holidays are meant to be a time of joy and connection, sometimes life doesn’t play out that way. By combining cannabis with self-care practices, you can create a holistic approach to stress management that works for you. But remember, there’s no one-size fits all solution. The key is to listen to your body, respect your limits, and prioritize what brings YOU peace and happiness during the holiday season.
And if all else fails, tell Great Aunt Myrtle to take a hike.
