How Will You Survive Your Relationships This Holiday Season?

You’re not alone. Here’s how to stay grounded, set boundaries, and care for your spirit through it all.

As though this concept of a holiday that represents the kindness and generosity of the Indigenous people, then being massacred by the colonizers, wasn’t riddled with difficulties already, we are now facing tremendous challenges within our relational systems - with family, friends, and loved ones who have chosen to support a political party that is once again causing unquestionable harm to millions.

It’s hard to sit at a table where love is proclaimed but harm is tolerated. It’s confusing to navigate traditions that celebrate connection while silencing truth. And it’s painful to witness people we care about dismiss the suffering of others in the name of “keeping the peace.”

But peace built on silence is not peace. It’s suppression!

This season, many of us will find ourselves torn between wanting to belong and needing to stay aligned. Between the desire for connection and the demand for integrity. Between ancestral traditions that center family and ancestral wisdom that calls us to stand in truth.

So before you gather, pause. Ask yourself: What is mine to hold this season and what is mine to release? Where can I create sacred distance without closing my heart? What boundaries will allow me to stay rooted in my values while still honoring my humanity?

Remember, surviving the holidays isn’t just about making it through a dinner. It’s about staying in integrity and an aligned relationship with yourself and the world around you.

Because this, too, is sacred work. And because sacred work also requires sacred care, here are a few tips to tend to your well-being and nervous system and spirit this season:

Begin with regulation before interaction:

Before you walk into a gathering or even reply to a message pause to regulate your nervous system. Try a 3-minute reset: three deep breaths into the belly, a slow exhale through the mouth, gentle shoulder rolls, and a moment of gratitude for your own growth. Your energy is your responsibility and grounding yourself first allows you to operate from a conscious space. You get to decide how you want to show up and who you want to be in a situation if you’re grounded and your nervous system isn’t dysregulated.

Discern before you decide:

Ask yourself, “Will attending this gathering honor my peace or compromise it?” Boundaries aren’t barriers. They are bridges to self-respect. If being in certain spaces consistently leaves you depleted, you are not obligated to attend in the name of tradition. Choosing your wellbeing is an act of integrity, not disconnection.

Set clear energetic and emotional limits:

Decide in advance what topics, conversations, or dynamics you won’t engage with. You can lovingly say, “I’d rather not discuss politics right now,” or simply redirect the conversation. You might also set time limits for how long you stay. Protecting your energy doesn’t make you cold. It makes you conscious.

Create a ritual of release afterward:

Once you leave a challenging space, let go of what isn’t yours. Try shaking out your body, taking a salt bath, journaling, or getting a Reiki treatment to clear your energy. Let your body, mind, and energy field return to coherence.

Remember not everyone is meant to be met right now.

Sometimes, love looks like space. You can love someone deeply and still not break bread with them this year. Healing requires discernment, not exposure.

This season, may you remember that your peace is sacred!

You are not required to sacrifice your well-being to prove your love. You are allowed to choose truth over tradition, boundaries over belonging, and integrity over illusion. Each choice you make to stay grounded, to honor your nervous system, and to protect your spirit is a step toward collective healing. Because when even one of us chooses peace that’s rooted in truth, not silence, we begin to shift the energy of entire lineages.

So breathe. Regulate. Choose wisely.

And remember, love that costs you your wholeness is not love - it’s conditioning.