How to Stay Calm During the Busiest Month of the Year
December has a particular kind of energy. The lights go up, the diaries fill quickly, and suddenly everything feels louder, brighter and faster. Alongside the joy and connection, there’s often a quiet undercurrent of pressure – to do more, to be more, to keep up.
It’s no wonder so many people arrive at January feeling exhausted rather than refreshed.
Staying calm in December isn’t about adding another thing to your already full list. It’s about weaving small, steady moments of calm into what’s already there. These moments don’t need to be perfect, long or complicated to make a real difference.
Here are a few gentle ways to support your nervous system through the busiest month of the year.
1. Lower the bar (and give yourself permission to do so)
December often comes with unspoken expectations – the perfect Christmas, the perfect family gatherings, the perfect balance of work and rest. Trying to meet all of these can leave you constantly feeling behind.
A simple shift that can ease a lot of tension is asking:
“What is actually essential this week?”
Everything else becomes optional. When you consciously lower the bar, your nervous system gets the message that it doesn’t need to stay on high alert all the time.
2. Breathe before you react
When the pace speeds up, our breath often becomes shallow without us even noticing. This keeps the body in a subtle state of stress.
Try this once or twice a day – especially before leaving the house or between tasks:
Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4
Exhale softly through your mouth for a count of 6
Repeat for 2–3 minutes
This longer exhale tells your nervous system that it is safe to settle.
3. Keep your movement gentle and consistent
December isn’t the month for pushing harder or aiming for personal bests. The body naturally wants slower, steadier movement during the darker, colder weeks.
Gentle yoga, stretching and mindful movement help to:
Release built-up tension
Improve sleep
Support digestion
Regulate stress hormones
Even ten minutes on the mat can be enough to remind your body that rest is still available to you, even when life feels busy.
4. Create small pockets of quiet
Silence has become quite rare, especially in December. Background music in shops, constant notifications, social plans and conversations can leave the mind feeling overstimulated.
You might try:
Sitting quietly with a warm drink for five minutes
Taking a short walk without a podcast or phone
Turning the lights down earlier in the evening
These small pauses help your system reset in tiny but powerful ways.
5. Be kind to your sleep
Late nights, social events and disrupted routines can quickly affect sleep in December. Rather than aiming for perfection, gently support your evenings where you can:
Dim the lights earlier
Avoid screens just before bed if possible
Try a short body scan or guided relaxation
Keep wake-up times reasonably consistent
Rest is not something to “earn” after December – it’s something that supports you through it.
6. Let calm be enough
You don’t need a full reset, a retreat, or hours of spare time to feel calmer. Often it’s the smallest acts, done regularly, that have the biggest impact.
Calm is created through:
Gentle choices
Quiet pauses
Soft boundaries
And allowing yourself to move at a human pace
A gentle invitation
If December feels particularly full this year, you’re not alone. This is exactly why gentle yoga and guided relaxation are so supportive at this time – not to escape the season, but to move through it with a little more ease.
Your body doesn’t need you to do more.
It simply needs moments where it can soften.
Namaste, Angela at Sussex Yoga x
