Having dietary restrictions can create extra anxiety around the holidays, but you can take control and make a plan to help yourself through it.
Transcription:
Hey there. Have you ever skipped a holiday social gathering just because you are eating differently than other people in your culture or in your family or in your work environment, and you’re afraid of the confrontation that will happen or– actually, I’ve actually met people that, and had clients, that have skipped altogether, just because they were afraid anybody would ask questions about it. That’s what I’m talking about this week.
I am talking about Specialized Diet Holiday Anxiety. When, what I’ve found, in particular for neurodiverse people, when we’re able to actually specifically label an anxiety, we can pull it out of that anxiety pool of ‘Oh my gosh, I’m anxious!’ And say, ‘Well, what is it exactly and what’s it tied to?’ Right? And so what I have found quite often for people, especially once they start to really understand their neurology and that maybe– well actually not maybe, they’ve proven it– sugar is not typically super helpful for people with ADHD, crave it like a son of a gun, but not always the most helpful to that brain. Also, the massive amounts of water, possibly skipping alcohol, like there is a wide variety of things. I have a wide variety of clients that are gluten-free, that are dairy-free, that are vegan, that are doing a lot of things to help support their brain so their brain can help and support them, and in particular they run into this, Specialized Diet during the Holidays Anxiety, and you know what? It’s okay. I just wanted you to know, you’re not alone. It is, it is a thing, and it’s part of it, and it doesn’t need to be a thing, so if your brain, as soon as somebody invites you, you’re like ‘Oh my gosh. What am I going to bring for food and how many millions of questions am I gonna have about that?’
Three quick things– 1. Label that anxiety. Recognize ‘Oh, this is an anxiety about that.’ Because typically when we label an anxiety, then we can also debunk it, and move it on, and we get to live a happy, successful, thriving life. So, we need to label it. You need to be able to say, ‘This is what that is.’ And then start to recognize all the ways that it’s feeding you BS basically, like ‘Oh my gosh I’d have to explain why I’m eating like this, oh my gosh, then people would you know that I’m working, that I have a neurodifference.’ Simple explanation everything– ‘You know what, I’m on a doctor-recommended diet right now.’ Super simple. Just do that. ‘I’m just, you know, working on myself, that’s all. I’m just, I want to be the healthiest I can be. I’m doing this right now.’ Doesn’t have to be massively confrontational at all. Once you have kind of started to understand all the little stories that are going on in your head that aren’t true then you get to decide, is this an opportunity to connect with others? Because maybe other people in your family need to hear about this and that you’re working on it in a non-hostile and offensive way, or is this an opportunity for you to learn to flow more. Which means just navigate and move around and make this simpler. I’m JoyGenea, international neurodiversity coach. Don’t avoid the holidays and food. You can handle this. You can figure this out. Thank you. Bye now.