Give yourself the gift of rest this festive season

Take some time just for you. Forget about that to-do list and do that relaxing thing you truly love. Whether you enjoy meditating, luxuriating in a bath, reading a good book or watching long stretches of cricket, take some proper time out for yourself.

Know that this small act of restorative self-care is far more important than all the other tasks that are desperately demanding your attention. Allow yourself to slow right down, breathe and let the tension of the last year slowly release. If you feel guilt creeping up, remind yourself that you cannot serve from an empty cup.

Take some time out to just be you. Enjoy the freedom of not being your job title or all those other roles you regularly play. If you get the chance, take off the uniform and step away from those weighty responsibilities. It’s also okay to drop the courteous smile and forget about trying to please everyone else. If you are the one who is always holding everything together, allow yourself to let go. Rather than continuing to try to be perfect, allow yourself to be gloriously human.

Take a break from listening to the many ‘experts’ who use the latest corporate catchphrases to foist upon us all manner of things that will somehow magically ‘fix’ us and make us worthy. A far better gift than any of their goods and services is self-acceptance. Know that you are enough, just as you are. You can be 100 per cent worthy without being some unattainable model of entrepreneurial success.