Why Rest Feels Impossible Right Now (Especially During the Holidays)

It's mid-December.

Your clients are canceling—which means less income right when expenses spike. The ones who aren't canceling are in crisis—grief, family conflict, seasonal depression hitting hard. Your own family obligations are piling up. And you're supposed to find time to rest?

Maybe you finally carved out an evening to yourself. But instead of feeling relaxed, you're anxious. Your mind won't stop running through your caseload, your budget, the family gathering you're dreading. You feel guilty for not working when there's so much need—and so many bills to pay.

If this is you right now, you're not alone. And you're not failing at self-care.

The Holiday Paradox for Clinicians

The holidays are when our clients need us most—and when our own nervous systems are most depleted.

We're holding:

• Client grief and seasonal depression intensifying
• Our own financial stress from cancellations and holiday expenses
• The emotional weight of family reunions with complicated dynamics
• Increased isolation for many clients (and ourselves)
• The pressure to be "on" both professionally and personally

And somewhere in all of that, we're supposed to rest? To feel festive? To regulate ourselves so we can keep showing up for others?

Why Your Nervous System Can't Rest Right Now

Here's what's actually happening in your body:

When your nervous system has adapted to chronic activation, rest feels dangerous.

You've trained yourself—session after session, crisis after crisis—to stay vigilant. To scan for the next emergency. To always be ready to respond. Your brain has learned: "When I'm alert and working, I'm safe. When I stop, something bad might happen."

Add in the holiday layer:

• Financial anxiety (Can I afford this? What if January is slow?)
• Increased clinical acuity (suicidality, grief, family trauma surfacing)
• Your own family stress (seeing people who don't understand your work, navigating old wounds)
• The cultural message that this "should" be joyful

No wonder your nervous system won't let you rest. It's trying to protect you.

The Cost of Running on Empty

We see this every December: brilliant, dedicated clinicians pushing through the holidays, telling themselves they'll rest in January.

But here's what happens when you keep pushing:

Your window of tolerance narrows. Things that usually don't bother you suddenly feel overwhelming. You're more reactive with clients, more irritable at home, less able to access clinical creativity.

Your body keeps the score. Tension headaches. Disrupted sleep. GI issues. Getting sick right after the holidays. Your body is trying to force the rest you won't give it.

You start the new year depleted. Instead of beginning January resourced, you're already running on empty—and facing the reality that many clients won't return after the break.

What If You Could Actually Regulate—Even Now?

What if, instead of just surviving December, you could practice something different?

Not adding a meditation practice or spa day to your overwhelm. Not pretending the stress isn't real.

But learning actual nervous system tools you can use in 30-60 seconds—between sessions, in your car, before you walk into that family gathering.

Tools that work with your activation instead of trying to force relaxation. Tools that help you discharge stress instead of accumulating it. Tools that acknowledge the real barriers—financial, systemic, cultural—while still giving you something practical to work with.

Join Me for Rest & Repair

I'm offering a live virtual training through the Somatic Integration Institute on December 17th from 1-3 PM EST—and this is different from typical professional development.

This isn't just learning about rest. This is an opportunity for your nervous system to actually experience it.

For two hours, you'll be in virtual community with other clinicians who understand exactly what you're carrying. You'll practice body-based regulation tools together. You'll give your nervous system permission to settle—maybe for the first time in months.

What You'll Experience:

• Two hours that won't add to your exhaustion—this is restorative, not taxing
• Guided practices to help your nervous system actually rest (not just learn about rest)
• Virtual community with others who get it—the cancellations, the crisis texts, the financial stress, the impossible balance
• Space to slow down and regulate while you learn

What You'll Learn:

• Why rest feels impossible right now (and how to work with that, not against it)
• 3 body-based practices you can do in under a minute
• How to create micro-moments of regulation in an overwhelming schedule
• The difference between appropriate clinical concern and chronic hyperactivation
• How to tend to your nervous system when you can't change your circumstances

What You'll Leave With:

• Practical tools you can use immediately (no special equipment, no extra time)
• A personal somatic renewal plan that fits your actual life
• 2 CEUs for counselors and social workers
• The training recording to revisit when you need it

Cost: $15 (Please reach out to [email protected] if cost is a barrier—I mean it.)

Group discounts available if you want to bring colleagues—because we regulate better together.

→ Register here

You Don't Have to White-Knuckle Through the Holidays

Your clients need you regulated. Your family needs you present. And you—you need you to not burn out before January.

This training won't solve the systemic problems that make this work so hard. It won't fix your caseload, your finances, or your family dynamics.

But it will give you tools to survive the season without sacrificing yourself in the process.

Register Here for Rest & Repair - December 17, 1-3 PM EST

Because you matter. Not because it makes you a better clinician (though it does). But because you're a human being whose nervous system deserves care—especially right now.

Rest & Repair: Reconnect. Regulate. Restore.
Offered by the Somatic Integration Institute
Tuesday, December 17th, 1-3 PM EST
Live Virtual Training | 2 CEUs | Recording Provided
$15 | Financial assistance available

Questions? Email [email protected]