Embracing Joy: Practical Skills for Mental Wellness During the Holidays
- Sherese Danielle Ezelle, LMHC, LPC, NCC
- Dec 20, 2025
- 4 min read
The holiday season often brings a mix of emotions. While many look forward to celebrations and time with loved ones, others feel overwhelmed by stress, expectations, or loneliness. This time of year can challenge our mental health, making it harder to experience joy and peace. Yet, allowing ourselves to embrace these feelings can significantly improve our well-being and create a more fulfilling holiday experience.
This post explores how welcoming joy and peace during the holidays and New Year can enhance mental wellness. It offers practical skills to help you cultivate habits that support emotional freedom and contentment. By practicing mindfulness, gratitude, self-compassion, and setting boundaries, you can create space for calm and happiness even amid the season’s demands.
Creating a calm and inviting space can help foster feelings of joy and peace during the holidays.
Why Embracing Joy and Peace Matters for Mental Health
The holidays often come with pressure to be joyful and social, which can feel exhausting or isolating if your experience doesn’t match that ideal. When we resist or suppress our true feelings, stress builds up and can lead to anxiety or depression. On the other hand, allowing ourselves to feel joy and peace—even in small moments—can:
Lower stress hormones and improve mood
Strengthen relationships through genuine connection
Boost resilience to cope with challenges
Enhance overall life satisfaction
Joy and peace are not just emotions to chase; they are states of being that support mental wellness. When we give ourselves permission to experience these feelings, we create a foundation for emotional freedom and healing.
Mindfulness: Staying Present to What Matters
Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment without judgment. During the holidays, it’s easy to get caught up in worries about the past or future. Practicing mindfulness helps you notice your feelings and surroundings clearly, allowing you to respond with calm rather than react with stress.
How to practice mindfulness during the holidays:
Take a few deep breaths before entering a busy room or starting a conversation.
Focus on the taste, smell, and texture of your food during meals instead of rushing.
Notice the sights and sounds around you, like twinkling lights or holiday music.
When overwhelmed, pause and name your emotions without trying to change them.
Mindfulness creates space to experience joy and peace as they arise, even if only briefly. It helps you appreciate the moment instead of getting lost in holiday chaos.
Gratitude: Shifting Focus to What Feels Good
Gratitude is the practice of recognizing and appreciating the positive aspects of life. It can shift your mindset from scarcity or stress to abundance and contentment. During the holidays, gratitude can help you find joy in simple things and deepen your connection to others.
Ways to cultivate gratitude:
Keep a gratitude journal and write down three things you are thankful for each day.
Express appreciation to friends, family, or coworkers with a kind word or note.
Reflect on past holiday memories that brought you happiness.
Notice small moments of kindness or beauty around you.
Gratitude rewires your brain to notice good things more often, making joy and peace more accessible.
Self-Compassion: Being Gentle with Yourself
The holidays can bring high expectations and self-criticism. You might feel pressure to be perfect or compare yourself to others. Self-compassion means treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a friend.
Practices to build self-compassion:
Acknowledge your feelings without judgment, even if they are difficult.
Remind yourself that everyone struggles sometimes, especially during busy seasons.
Take breaks when you need them without guilt.
Use kind phrases like “I am doing my best” or “It’s okay to rest.”
Self-compassion reduces stress and helps you maintain emotional balance, making space for peace and joy.
Setting Boundaries: Protecting Your Energy
Saying yes to every invitation or request can drain your energy and increase stress. Setting boundaries means deciding what you can and cannot do to protect your well-being. This skill is essential for maintaining peace during the holidays.
Tips for setting healthy boundaries:
Prioritize events and activities that bring you joy or meaning.
Politely decline invitations that feel overwhelming or stressful.
Communicate your needs clearly to family and friends.
Schedule downtime to recharge and avoid burnout.
Boundaries help you create a holiday experience that feels manageable and fulfilling.
Reflecting on Emotional Freedom and Contentment
Take a moment to reflect on your emotional freedom. Are you allowing yourself to feel joy and peace, or are you caught in stress and obligation? Creating a space of contentment means giving yourself permission to experience positive emotions without guilt or resistance.
Try this reflection exercise:
What moments during the day bring you genuine happiness?
How do you respond when you feel overwhelmed or anxious?
What small changes can you make to invite more peace into your days?
How can you practice kindness toward yourself when things don’t go as planned?
Answering these questions can guide you toward habits that support your mental wellness and bring peace, joy and true contentment all year round.
