Addressing End Year Anxiety

For many, the holiday season and the new year are times filled with laughter, music, relaxation, generosity, and fond memories. Others, however, may experience increased stress and anxiety due to financial strain, relationship difficulties, professional pressures or changes, and so much more.

Before we draw this year to a close, you might be contemplating whether anxiety treatment is the best way to start your new year on a clean slate with a solid foundation for goal setting and life enhancement. Looking for help managing year-end and new-year anxiety? You’ve come to the right place!

Does This Feel Familiar?

There are times when our brains get so entangled with tension, anxiety, and stress that we become physically and mentally unwell just as the holiday season begins. This can lead to a negative association with the festive season, detracting from the things that would ordinarily bring us joy. If this becomes a recurring pattern, the mind and body will take strain, which can carry into the new year.

What Causes Year-End Anxiety?

It’s easy for the holidays to seem less than joyous and bright when you include in the pressure of year-end deadlines, the need to adjust your diet and drinking habits, and the constant barrage of “New Year, New You” messaging from the media. The starting point for resolving negative patterns is identifying the root cause of the problem. As we near the end of another eventful year, here are a few things that may be causing you additional anxiety:

1. You feel as if you have not accomplished much in the last 12 months, leading to experiences of regret and failure.
2. You’re overwhelmed by your own and others’ expectations for the new year, leading to a lack of emotional engagement and motivation with your goals.
3. You’re experiencing end-of-year burnout, feeling mentally and physically drained from the personal and professional pressures of the last 12 months.
4. Unhealthy habits or coping mechanisms have affected your body’s ability to cope with stress.
5. You have previous negative experiences or connotations associated with the holiday season.
6. Friction and setbacks created by the pandemic have left you feeling overwhelmed and even traumatised.
7. The pressure of preparing to wrap up the end of the year’s workload has taken its toll on you.
8. The pressure of planning family holidays and gatherings and all associated family tensions or complications have overwhelmed you.
9. The recent loss of a loved one can make the holiday season feel extraordinarily painful.
10. The financial strain and pressure of keeping up with others and appeasing everyone are placing you in a difficult position.

Simple Steps To Overcoming Recurring Year-End Anxiety

The reasons for your year-end anxiety may be partially or completely lined out above, or they might be something entirely unique to you. Whatever they are, once you’ve identified the root causes for your new year’s anxiety, it’s time to address and overcome them. You can begin by:

1. Reflecting on all the physical and emotional stressors your body has faced this year. Acknowledge them and forgive yourself for feeling overwhelmed.
2. Finding ways to improve your professional and personal organisation, take note of what must be prioritised and let yourself release and reschedule the rest.
3. Taking a moment to reflect on your accomplishments this year, no matter how small, and use them as the building blocks for your goals in the new year.
4. Avoid setting unrealistic expectations for yourself and take inventory of how many expectations you may be carrying from others as well. Acknowledge them and forgive yourself for feeling overwhelmed.
5. Practising gratitude this festive season instead of comparing yourself to others or focusing on what you don’t have or haven’t achieved. Instead, focus on the smallest and simplest joys surrounding you.
6. Finding subtle ways of improving your health and nutrition this holiday season. It can be as simple as reminding yourself to drink more water, eat more fruit or invest in a multivitamin.

The best way to start managing and overcoming your year-end anxiety is to reach out and seek professional guidance.

How Can Hypnotherapy Help?

Hypnotherapy can induce substantial and long-lasting changes in one’s way of thinking because it allows for the establishment of positive thoughts and recommendations deep inside the subconscious. If you alter your way of thinking, you can transform your beliefs, anxieties, ambitions, habits, and everything else that stands in the way of your success. However, this is not something that happens on its own. In our sessions, you will be taking an active role in the process by discussing your aspirations and the obstacles that have kept you from achieving them.

Are You Ready to Start the New Year on a Solid Foundation?

No matter what you want to accomplish, my goal is to restore your sense of control and understanding of your year-end anxieties and your emotional and physical reactions to them. Hypnotherapy will free you from the need to conform to societal expectations by acknowledging and encouraging your input, cooperation, and commitment to yourself. Does hypnotherapy as a guided anxiety treatment sound like the right way to end the year and finally put an end to recurring patterns of year-end anxiety? Reach out, and let’s take the first steps into your new year together.