The holiday season can be a hectic time for a number of reasons, and it’s easy to let our usual healthy routines slide as we work harder and socialise more. With the rise in popularity of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday phenomenon, artists now have a whole new level of expectations to manage. This can result in an increase in stress, anxiety, and other aspects of our lives. To help you reduce these impacts and have as smooth a holiday season as possible we thought we’d share a few hints and tips on ways to manage your well-being as the decade comes to a close.

Designs by Matthew Dunn

1. Time Management

This is a tricky concept at the best of times, but when you add the increase in activities it can get downright chaotic. It’s important to remember that your time is your own, and if you’re feeling exhausted and need a break, or just really don’t want to go to a particular event or gathering, then it’s totally fine to say no.

Time Management can be adversely impacted by other things as well, such as…

2. Procrastination

When our schedules gets stacked up and we feel like we don’t have time to do all that we want to do it can become very overwhelming. I’m sure most of us have had those moments where our brains freeze up in the face of an overwhelming to-do list, which only makes our time to complete it even less.

If you find yourself in one of these moments it can be helpful to give yourself a few minutes to step away, go for a short walk around the block to get some fresh air, sit down and listen to a favourite song, or anything else that will take that worry out of your mindset for a short time. Then return to your list, give yourself 5 minutes to commit to tackling something from it and you’d be surprised how quickly that 5 minute will become 10, and that 10 will become 15, and before you know it you’ve got something else completed and crossed off your list.

Designs by Eevien Tan, David Mowbray, and Douglas Holgate

3. Expectations

The holiday season often sees a noticeable increase in traffic (and hopefully sales) for artists on Redbubble. This is a fantastic thing on many levels, but it can also be a source of stress and anxiety for us as we face our own expectations of what we feel we should be achieving. The art world is a tricky business, what worked today might fall flat tomorrow, so it’s always worth reviewing your approach to how you share and promote your art and look at ways to change things up now and then.

Promoting your own work is important, and it can sometimes feel like the time and effort you’re committing isn’t getting the instant results you were hoping for. Try not to get caught up in meeting expectations (especially as we often place much higher expectations on ourselves than we realise), and make sure you give yourself a moment to celebrate your success.

Every time you sell something on Redbubble you’re having an interaction with someone who loves what you’ve created so much that they’re prepared to spend their hard earned money on it. That’s a pretty amazing thing that we sometimes lose sight of.

4. Holidays Schmolidays

Let’s be honest, not everyone enjoys the holiday season. For some it can be a lonely time of year, for others it’s a reminder of negative emotions and experiences. It’s also hard to completely avoid it, so if it is something that can take its toll then try to share this with some of the people in your life and see what can be done to make it easier.

Maybe it could be a fun chance to re-frame this time of year in a way that replaces negative memories with positive new ones? I have a loved one who is staunchly opposed to Christmas, so we get together to celebrate X-Wing-Mas, a day to enjoy nice food, a few drinks, and watch Star Wars together.

Designs by Chelsea Greene Lewyta, Natalie Manuel, and XIthLion

5. Be Kind

This one should be simple enough, but in the chaos of the holiday season we can sometimes be overwhelmed and lose track of such things. So take the time to be kind to those around you, and also remember to keep some of that kindness to give to yourself as well.

So there’s a basic list of things that we can do to hopefully make the season a more positive and less stressful experience. I know that we’re all very different people with our own experiences so lists like these aren’t always helpful for everyone. If you have any other ideas or suggestions on what people can do to manage their well-being at this time of year, please share your thoughts in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.

Happy Holidays and Merry X-Wing-Mess to you all!

Matt