I know lots of young people many of them are probably just like you and one of the challenges that I have come to observe over the years is how busy you all are! You guys are probably as busy as me, if not busier, you have homework, clubs, singing classes and sports – there is a lot of stuff going on! 

Whilst that in itself is a wonderful thing while you are young to have one of these experiences so your brain can soak them all up like a sponge because it doesn’t happen quite so easily as you get older so you’ve got these brains that are like ready and hungry to learn it can also be a little bit tiring sometimes even though you may feel full of energy you may be enthusiastic about all of these different things you are doing it’s still really important that you give your brain time to have a rest because if you don’t it’s a bit like eating all of your favourite dinners back to back eventually you just get full up so what do you do?

If you’re getting full up on all your favourite dinners you take a rest, you stop eating for a little while you give yourself time to digest all of that stuff that’s gone in and it’s the same with your learning and experiences that you’re having as well. Your brain needs a little bit of time to digest all of that incoming information and as we come towards the festive season sometimes things get super busy before they eventually drop back down and start to be a bit more chilled again.

I want you to become aware of this because if you are starting to feel that pressure or stress, you just need a little bit more digesting time. You need to make sure that you’ve got a few evenings a week spare or you take the odd Saturday off because all of these good experiences are all going to be available for you as life goes on, you know, you’ve got plenty of time to be having all of these experiences but preserving your mental health is by far more important and it would be a complete waste to have bombarded yourself with all of these different things that you needed or felt that you have to do and then end up feeling so stressed out and anxious that you can’t enjoy them anymore.

It’s much better to do things more moderately so that you can cope with them properly and you don’t risk putting yourself under extra pressure unnecessarily. As we’ve got the break from school coming up between Christmas and the new year really take some time to rest and take some time to reflect on what you want next year to look like what sorts of things you want to be doing and where in a month all of that will you be taking a little rest now. I’m not suggesting that resting is a case of sitting still with your eyes closed, it might involve just chilling at home, and doing some drawing. It might involve catching up on a series on Netflix or walking the dog. It just needs to be a little bit low-key than rushing around and being here, there and everywhere.

By Gemma Bailey

www.childtherapisthertfordshire.nlp4kids.org