Cass

Add that together with hormonal changes, maybe sleep disruption, or just the sheer busyness and the fast pace of life these days.

It can make everything feel more intense, particularly at this time of year.

Something I notice amongst my friends and amongst colleagues is

There's a lot of pressure around the idea of the perfect festive season.

If you're a regular listener of the podcast, you'll know I talk about myself as a recovering perfectionist.

And I think Christmas particularly is the time of year when perfectionist tendencies can tend to go into overdrive.

If you're that way inclined, you might be striving to have the perfect meal, the perfect tree, to choose that perfect gift for someone, the perfect family gathering, that perfect sense of togetherness, just like it is in all the Christmas movies, right?

But often the gap between our expectation and reality is where the frustration lives.

If you're someone that's striving for that perfect tree or that perfect gift

and it's not creating a sense of stress or a sense of overwhelm for you, then happy days, like there's no problem with it.

If there's no downside for you, then, you know, it's not a problem.

But for some people...

If you have those perfectionist tendencies, striving for that perfect gift or that perfect meal, it can create an enormous feeling of stress, overwhelm, overload on your nervous system.

And there is a downside.

There is a cost, right?

To trying to create that perfect event or provide everything for everyone else.

There is a cost to you.

So I think it's about balance and I'd encourage you to step back and look at your own values, look at your values of your own family and see if there's some ground for you to step back a little bit on the perfection and still find a beautiful tree, still prepare a beautiful meal and host a beautiful Christmas with your friends and family, but with less of the stress and overwhelm that comes with trying to have it all together, trying for it all to be perfect.

Because the truth is, a good event or a good holiday experience, it isn't about perfection.

It's about presence.