The holiday season is officially upon us.

As I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, this time of year can be overwhelming for individuals with persistent Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS), mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), and other brain injuries.

Here are 12 tips to help you better handle the holiday season:

1. Take a break at the first sign of physical symptoms, when you feel yourself getting tired or feeling overstimulated— or if you start to feel annoyed or upset. Those symptoms are signals your body and brain are sending you— and the message is simple: your brain is overloaded and it needs a break. By taking a break sooner than later, you can prevent a full-blown symptom crash.

2. Carve out a place to take breaks— find a private, quiet place where you can go. It can be an office, a room in your house, your car— even a quiet, favorite table in a coffee shop wearing your noise-canceling headphones or earplugs. Just find something that works for you.

Once you have settled on your break location, supply yourself with things that will help you relax and reground yourself. If you need to listen to music or look at a picture, make sure it is there. If you need to use a meditation app on your phone, make sure it is ready to go. If you think it’s possible you might forget what you want to do for your breaks, include directions and/or reminders about them to your future self.

3. Be pro-active in doing things that help you relax. Center yourself— preferably early in the day. It could be a meditation podcast or app, music, reading, a creative activity, prayer, or sitting with your eyes closed somewhere. Just do something that relaxes you for 10-30 minutes— the earlier, the better.

4. Make a list and check it twice… better yet, take a photo of your list with your cell phone and take it with you. There’s a lot going on in the holiday season: shopping for gifts, lots of people out and about, lots of visual stimulation and sounds, travel, family coming and going. In other words, there are a lot of things to keep track of and a lot of distractions. Making lists to help you remember, stay focused and reduce the number of decisions you have to make in the moment can remove a layer of stress from your holidays.

You can use a planner like the ones I recommend in this blog post. Additionally, you can take a picture of your day’s to-do list with your cell phone to provide you with a portable backup copy (or you can also use something like the Gazelle Planner Sticky Notes or Knock Knock To-Do sticky notes instead).

5. Try to shop off-hours when there are less people around. This will help you reduce the possibility of getting overstimulated when shopping in brick and mortar stores.

6. Try to reduce your non-essential screen time. It is unavoidable to have more sensory and mental stimulation at this time of year. To balance that out, try to reduce your visual stimulation by spending less screen time on your computer, phone, or tablet whenever possible.

7. Don’t neglect your sleep. Sleep gives your brain needed recovery time. You’ll need it with the added sensory, mental and emotional stimulation that typically come during the holiday season. Try for at least 8 hours/night.

8. Don’t forget to replenish your well. Engage with at least 1-2 things every day that feel creative or inspiring to you. Write; draw; paint; invent; play a creative game with your kids; watch your favorite movie; listen to your favorite music; go to one of your favorite places; look at art that feeds your soul, even if you have to look at pictures of it in a book.

9. Try to avoid reacting to people being rude, critical or otherwise unsupportive— until after the holidays. Ignore them, deliberately act dense, play dumb, pretend that you don’t hear them. Or say that you want to respond to what they said, but not until after a few days. Holidays already can be overwhelming with sensory stimulation and family drama. It is better to wait until after the holidays to deal with interpersonal conflict, when you are more likely to be calm and better grounded.

10. If you have to have a difficult conversation with a family member, jot down some notes for yourself. This will help you remember all the things you want to say and it will give you more time to think about how you want to say them. That way, you’re not leaving it until the heat of the moment to choose your words.

11. Make time for people who make you feel good. You probably know who these people are, but in case you need clues, look at how you feel after interacting with the various people in your life. When do you feel lighter, more grounded, unconditionally accepted, more inspired, or more connected to yourself? Make sure you set aside some time to hang out with those people this holiday season.

12. Take it easy on yourself. Allow yourself to be imperfect, to be a little broken, or not to otherwise have it all figured out or under control. And that includes how you are during the holidays.

Try these things out as best as you can, but don’t beat yourself up if you fail or still have some tough times. Allow yourself to have the occasional bad day or two (or three). Reassure yourself that you can get a good night’s sleep tonight and then wake up tomorrow and have a better day.

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If you found this helpful and would like personalized support from a coach who specializes in working with individuals who have persistent PCS/mTBI, I have a limited number of  openings for new clients. To explore that possibility, send an email to me at: jon@rebuildcoaching.com.