Doldrums as defined by Google as: a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or slump.

As we enter the final two months of 2025, with all the craziness of the government shutdown, it seems that we are on this constant treadmill, which leads to either burnout or feeling depleted. With Halloween and all the excess sugar passing through, we officially enter the holiday season with Thanksgiving at the end of this month, followed quickly with Christmas and the celebration of New Year’s. Just typing this last sentence, I realized that I was holding my breath and had to take two deep breaths in and out. I’ve learned over the years to simplify the holiday season and really choose to connect with those that I want to. Furthermore, to decrease the hectic-ness of the holiday season for myself and loved ones, implemented a no exchange of Christmas gifts, but either a Christmas card or a Christmas text of well wishes.

The challenge to avoid body doldrums especially after the roller coaster year that we experienced, is for us to take care of ourselves and our bodies (especially before the holiday season, during, and after). It’s not about being selfish or self-centered, but rather choosing to be “self-focused.”

I’ve heard countless of times through the years that you cannot really love someone else until you love yourself first. This ideology is the same and resonates more truly, that in order to take care of someone else, you must make sure you take care of yourself first. For those many caregivers out there, the immediate thought is there is NO way possible since it takes so much energy and time to take care of an aging parent, special needs child, grandparents or grandchildren. However, I’ve come across many caregivers through the 26 years of practice who get worn down, and without taking proper care of themselves, have found themselves eventually unable to take care of their loved ones properly.

How do we deal with this dilemma, especially when caretaking may be a necessity in your life? How do you gain life balance? You don’t even have to be a caregiver – this can also apply to individuals who have a hard time finding a balance with their work and personal life. There are so many demands that are placed on us each moment, and due to the supposed efficiency of technology and smart devices, it almost seems that we feel we are always on call. This is where recognizing that we do have one power at our disposal, and that is the power of choice. We ultimately choose when we say yes or no. So why is it so hard to say NO especially when we were so good at it when we were toddlers? How did we lose that gumption and ability to be self-assertive when we didn’t want to do something or be told what to do? Over time we got conditioned into thinking or acting a certain way, either to avoid being shamed, guilted, or feeling left out and wanting to be accepted or loved.

My recommendation before the craziness of the holidays befalls us, is to choose the next couple of weeks before Thanksgiving to really take time to identify what it is that you want to do, and start to prioritize what’s most important to you. Make a list if you have to, so that way when you feel the old conditioned patterns pulling at you, or you find your mind telling you that you should, have to, or ought to do something, look at your list and be reminded of what you really want to do.

By choosing to do things that you want to do will help keep you out of the body doldrums and keep you inspired about doing the things that you love to do. However, start as soon as you can, because it takes consistency and determination to create this new habit of choosing things that you want to do versus feeling obligated to do things you should, have to do, or ought to do. Ultimately, if you choose yourself, you also help others to do the same; or at least you get them to start observing how your life is changing for the better by choosing yourself first.

Many heart-felt gratitude to all my practice members and mind-body connecting seekers for being a part of my life and choosing the path less traveled, by wanting to learn how to trust your body more, becoming more empowered, and ultimately learning to self-heal!