Avoiding Holiday Burnout: How to Stay Grounded, Steady, and Sane
The holidays are supposed to feel joyful, magical, cozy, and nostalgic, right?
Sometimes they do. But for most women—especially the ones holding everything and everyone together—the holidays can just as easily feel loud, draining, overstimulating, and like you’re constantly behind.
You’re juggling schedules, emotions, expectations, events, logistics, memories, and family dynamics. You’re trying to enjoy yourself while also trying to create a beautiful experience for everyone else. And in all of the noise, your body and nervous system feel every bit of it.
If you’ve ever felt “wired but tired,” overstimulated, edgy, emotional, unmotivated, hungry for all the wrong things, or like your fuse is a little shorter in December, you’re not failing. You’re overloaded.
This post will help you understand why holiday burnout happens, the signals your body sends that most people ignore, and the simple tools, habits, and mindset shifts that help you stay grounded, steady, and in control all season long.
Why It’s So Hard to “Stay on Track” During the Holidays
Let’s start with something important:
It’s not because you need more willpower.
You’re not undisciplined. You’re not “blowing it.”
The holiday struggle is physiological, emotional, logistical, and nervous-system related.
Your holiday identity shifts — and it matters
One of the biggest obstacles is the identity you step into.
Many of us unintentionally slip into roles like:
The fixer
The peacekeeper
The hostess
The one who makes everyone else’s holiday magical
Or the most common one:
“I’ll just get through it.”
When you choose the identity of “getting through December,” you automatically ignore your body’s signals. You push. You override. You hustle. You sideline yourself.
A grounded, healthier holiday starts with choosing a new identity—on purpose.
Ask yourself:
Who do I want to be this holiday season?
How does she show up?
What choices does she make?
What does her morning routine look like before the chaos starts?
Before you adjust your habits, adjust your identity.
Why Burnout Hits Harder During the Holidays
Your body isn’t reacting to one big stressor. It’s reacting to layers of them.
Some of the most common contributors:
1. Blood sugar swings
Cookies in the breakroom. Peppermint bark. Crackers in the car. Rolls, pies, potatoes, quick carbs everywhere.
Quick carbs → quick energy → quick crash → cortisol spike → irritability → cravings.
It’s not a willpower issue.
It’s physiology.
2. Emotional load + family dynamics
Even when you love your people, emotions run hotter during the holidays:
Expectations
Unspoken tensions
Old patterns
Big feelings
Financial pressure
Your nervous system runs on overtime trying to keep you “safe.”
3. Overstimulation
Lights, noise, events, shopping, crowds, travel, socializing…
It’s a lot of sensory input.
4. Disrupted routines
Sleep changes, meal timing, inconsistent movement, travel, and altered schedules all compound.
5. Decision fatigue
You make hundreds of micro-choices during the holidays:
What to wear
What gift to buy
What event to attend
When to host
What to cook
What to eat
What to say yes to (and no to)
Your brain burns through resources quickly.
No wonder you feel fried.
Understanding Hyperarousal vs. Shutdown
Most people fall into one of two coping states during stress:
Hyperarousal (wired, overstimulated, edgy)
You may feel:
Irritated
Scattered
Anxious
Overwhelmed
“Go go go” energy
Trouble relaxing
Shutdown / Hypoarousal (exhausted, detached)
You may feel:
Numb
Overly tired
Unmotivated
Foggy
Apathetic
“What’s the point?” energy
During the holidays, it’s extremely common to bounce between the two.
Recognizing your state is the first step to regulating it.
The Biggest Weight-Gain Myth of the Holidays
Lots of people believe the “average person gains 5–7 pounds.”
But research shows that’s not usually true.
What does happen?
Your carb intake increases, and carbs are stored as glycogen—which binds to water.
So a lot of the holiday weight gain is fluid retention, not body fat.
Yes, you may gain a bit of fat (most people do), but it’s usually just a couple pounds, and it’s workable.
So please… stop beating yourself up for normal physiology.
The Three Simple Holiday Hacks That Make the Biggest Difference
If everything else feels too overwhelming, start with these three.
1. Front-load protein
Protein is made of amino acids—your body’s repair materials.
When you’re under stress, your body is repairing constantly:
Tissues
Muscles
Immune system
Cells
Eating adequate protein helps you stay steady, satisfied, and energetic.
The simplest hack:
Have a 25–30g protein source before any holiday party or event.
If you skip this, you will almost always overeat later — not because you’re “bad,” but because you’re under-fueled.
2. Move your body daily
Ten minutes matters.
Short, consistent movement regulates your nervous system far more effectively than occasional intense workouts.
Walk
Stretch
Light resistance training
A quick circuit
Dance while you clean
Consistency > intensity during December.
3. Use breathwork to ground your nervous system
When everything gets loud, your breath gets shallow.
Shallow breath signals danger to your brain.
Intentional breath reverses that message.
Try:
Box breathing (4 in, 4 hold, 4 out, 4 hold)
6-second exhales
3-minute grounding breaths in the bathroom before an event
Think of breathwork as a reset button for your entire system.
Burnout Signals Most People Ignore
Burnout doesn’t just show up as exhaustion.
Watch for:
Snapping at small things
Feeling overstimulated by noise
Sharp cravings
Forgetfulness
Feeling “checked out”
Trouble making even small decisions
Feeling hungry all day
Feeling nothing at all
Poor sleep
Feeling like you’re always behind
Your nervous system is trying to communicate.
Listen early, not when things explode.
Use Pre-Decisions to Prevent Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue is real. One of the easiest ways to stay calm and steady is to make decisions before you’re overwhelmed.
Try these:
1. Choose your non-negotiables
Pick 2–3 things you’ll do no matter what.
Examples:
10-minute walk
25g protein at breakfast
A moment of breathwork
That’s it. Don’t overcomplicate it.
2. Use floor and ceiling goals
This strategy saves a lot of people who fall into all-or-nothing thinking.
Floor goal: The minimum you can do even on a chaotic day.
Ceiling goal: Your ideal.
For example:
Minimum: 10-minute walk
Ideal: 45-minute workout
Anything between the two is success.
3. Plan your meals on event days
Not perfectly. Not rigidly. Just enough to reduce mental load.
Grab a blank calendar.
Write down your holiday events.
Then plug in 2–4 go-to meals you can make without thinking.
This prevents you from “reactive eating” and keeps your energy steady.
Micro-Regulation Tools You Can Use Anywhere
These are small, 30-second to 5-minute tools you can use throughout your day to reset your brain and body.
1. Breathwork
Already discussed, but worth repeating:
Breath is the fastest way to regulate your nervous system.
2. Body movement breaks
Walk to the mailbox
Stretch your arms overhead
Do 20 air squats
Move your spine side to side
Shake out your hands
Your body uses movement to release stress hormones.
3. Environmental resets
Step outside for 60 seconds
Dim the lights
Turn down noise
Step into another room for a break
Sit in your car before going into a store or event
Change your environment = change your state.
4. Sensory grounding
Try the “5-4-3-2-1” technique:
5 things you can see
4 you can touch
3 you can hear
2 you can smell
1 you can taste
This pulls your brain out of overwhelm and back into the present.
You Don’t Need a Perfect Holiday — You Need a Grounded One
If you take nothing else from this post, take this:
Consistency beats perfection, especially in December.
You don’t need perfect nutrition, perfect workouts, or perfect habits. You don’t need to white-knuckle the season or avoid treats.
You just need:
A plan
A few daily non-negotiables
Enough protein
Gentle, consistent movement
Breathwork when things get loud
A grounded, intentional identity
These small steps compound.
You can enjoy the season, eat the treats, participate fully, and still feel steady, nourished, and in control.
Your nervous system is not your enemy.
It’s your partner.
And when you support it, everything else gets easier.
If you'd like support avoiding or treating holiday burnout, message me. I'd love to help.
