It’s that time again. Your favorite functional health coach and hormone harmony expert if back with my 2025 Holiday Survival Guide. If you are once again trying to be all things to all people while attempting to create a Hallmark movie in your home, this one is for you. Unfortunately, this season has a way of turning capable, successful, high-achieving women into exhausted holiday elves who keep everyone else joyful while slowly losing their own spark. Let’s fix that.
This year, I want you to experience the holidays on your terms. Not the terms of your relatives, not the terms of Pinterest, not the terms of the person who thinks you should bake six kinds of cookies. This guide will help you stay sane, feel like yourself, and keep your body as steady as possible in a season built on sugar, alcohol, and sleep disruption.
Grab some tea, sit down, and let’s dive into how to navigate this season with clarity, humor, and the confidence that comes from knowing you are allowed to put yourself first.
1. Start with what YOU want
Before you start planning meals, buying gifts, or saying yes to every invitation, ask yourself one question:
How do I want to feel this holiday season?
Do you want peace? Quiet? More play? More connection? A slower pace? More sparkle? Fewer obligations? A week on a beach instead of being trapped in a small house with 12 relatives and one bathroom?
Decide this early and let it guide everything else. And while we’re talking about gifts, what are you gifting yourself? Choose something that feels indulgent, nourishing, or utterly unnecessary but delightful. That could be a solo day trip, a new book stack, or an entire day of silence where no one speaks your name.
Your holiday experience is created by you. Choose wisely.
2. Listen to your body
This seems obvious, but most women override their body’s messages during the holidays. If you are tired, rest. If your social battery is drained, you do not need to put on a sparkly outfit and a fake smile and attend an event you don’t even want to go to. Your jammies, couch, and a cheesy holiday movie are a perfectly respectable alternative.
If a food doesn’t make you feel good, you don’t have to eat it just because Aunt Betty insists you “always loved her marshmallow salad.” Boundaries count in food, too.
Your body is communicating with you all the time. Be the woman who listens.
3. Choose your people wisely
Here is your annual reminder: you do not owe your time, energy, or emotional labor to anyone who drains you. This includes energy vampires, dramatic relatives, and people who think the holidays are the perfect time to bring up politics.
If spending time with certain individuals leaves you exhausted or irritated, you have permission to decline. Or leave early. Or schedule something shorter. Or not schedule anything at all.
Protect your peace like it is the most fragile ornament on the tree.
4. Keep your immune system strong
Cold and flu season loves the holidays. Add sugar, poor sleep, alcohol, stress, airport germs, and 200 people breathing on each other in small spaces, and you have a viral playground.
A few simple things help your immunity stay strong:
- Prioritize sleep
- Vitamin D, zinc, and probiotics
- Hydrate more than you think you need
- Eat real food at least 80 percent of the time
- Wash your hands
- Keep stress from running your life
Your holiday can be festive without being a festival of germs.
5. Make healthy choices without obsessing
This is not the time to overhaul your entire health routine, start a juice cleanse, or swear off sugar forever. But it is the time to practice gentle boundaries.
Some practical reminders:
- Enjoy holiday favorites, but savor them rather than inhaling them.
- Alcohol is fine in moderation, but too much disrupts sleep, mood, hormones, and blood sugar.
- Move your body. Walk, stretch, strength train, dance in your kitchen. It all counts.
- Eat protein with every meal.
- Don’t skip meals and then show up at a party ravenous.
- You are not striving for perfection. You are striving for feeling good.
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6. Avoid the credit card hangover
Please do not spend your hard-earned money on things no one needs, wants, or remembers by mid-January. Instead, consider:
- Experiences (my personal favorite)
- Gift cards
- Donations made in someone’s honor (my runner-up favorite)
- Time together
- Something handmade, simple, or practical
- A handwritten note
Stuff rarely makes people happier. Connection does.
7. Reach out to your neighbors
Loneliness is at an all-time high. The holidays magnify it. A simple wave, check-in, or invitation can make a big difference in someone’s day. Especially older adults or anyone living alone.
And you know what? Extending kindness boosts your mood and your stress resilience. You’re helping others and supporting your own emotional health at the same time. That is a win for everyone.
8. Share the workload
You are not the holiday elf. You may have played that role for years, but today is a good day to retire. Every person in your home can contribute.
Delegate tasks like:
- Decorating
- Grocery runs
- Cooking
- Setting the table
- Wrapping gifts
- Cleaning up
- Managing logistics
If someone complains, congratulations, they just volunteered for dessert duty.
9. Stop expecting perfection
Perfectionism is the thief of joy. Especially during the holidays. The picture-perfect holiday you’re imagining likely isn’t realistic, and honestly, it’s probably not necessary either.
- Burned cookies still taste good with ice cream.
- Plans that change make room for surprises.
- Kids crying in the family photo is practically a tradition.
- Your house does not need to look like a magazine.
Aim for good enough and then keep moving.
10. Prioritize your mental health
Stress, depression, and anxiety spike during this season for a lot of reasons. Unrealistic expectations, overpacked schedules, lack of sleep, less sunlight, disrupted routines, and complicated family dynamics all play a role.
This year, give yourself permission to:
- Rest
- Ask for help
- Lower expectations
- Say no
- Set boundaries
- Seek support
- Create space just for yourself
A small amount of intentional self-care can make a huge difference.
The Bottom Line
Your well-being matters. Your joy matters. Your needs matter. You do not have to hustle your way through the holidays. You get to design them so they feel supportive rather than stressful.
Do less. Enjoy more. Give yourself grace. Slow down where you can. And remember that your future self also deserves a seat at your holiday table.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, peaceful season from the Dr. Anna team.
Dr. Anna Garrett is a menopause expert and Doctor of Pharmacy. She helps women who are struggling with symptoms of perimenopause and menopause find natural hormone balancing solutions so they can rock their mojo through midlife and beyond. Dr. Anna is the author of Perimenopause: The Savvy Sister’s Guide to Hormone Harmony. Order your copy at www.perimenopausebook.com.
Dr. Anna is available for 1-1 consultations. Find out more at www.drannagarrett.com/lets-
