135 - FAMILY - How to survive the Holiday Season (labels, conflict and outgrowing who your family think you are) ft. Stephanie Therapy

Episode 135 can be streamed on Spotify here and Apple podcasts here.

Welcome to *THE* episode we all need this Holiday Season - a step-by-step therapy guide on how to navigate and survive the holiday season when we go home and get reunited with the family. This week, just in time for the holidays, Louise is joined by psychotherapist and attachment expert, Stephanie Therapy, and the pair discuss WHY the holidays can be so damn triggering (and how you can do this holiday season differently).

Louise & Stephanie jump into: 

• How to process the strain of the holiday season on our nervous system (particularly crowded, over stimulating spaces and a lack of escape) 

• How to address holiday triggers and navigate them (particularly those uncomfortable questions and conversations)

• Exploring unresolved family issues (and why they resurface over the holidays)

• Delving into the impact of ‘labels’ within the family unit and how to handle these when we are no longer the person our family thinks we are

• How to better understand the ‘stressed-out overworked Mother’ and the ‘absent father’ or the ‘drunk sibling’

• How to manage suppressing emotions and instead calmly balance our emotional regulation to avoid conflict

• Coping with changing family dynamics - how to adapt to new individuals joining the family unit

• Coping with missing loved ones during the holiday (and how to handle loss and grief)

Louise & Stephanie also discuss practical coping and active strategies on how to set limits on sensitive topics, establishing boundaries with family members and how to navigate triggering or uncomfortable conversations during the holidays. They discuss safe spaces, setting limits, evening self-care, routine, balance and more. 

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⠀  Connect with Louise on Instagram: @iamlouiserumball
⠀  Follow Louise (The Therapy Girl) on TikTok: @thetherapygirl__
⠀  Connect with OPENHOUSE: @theopenhousepodcast
⠀  Connect with Stephanie on Instagram: @stephanietherapy
⠀  Connect with Stephanie on TikTok: @loveandtherapy

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Music Sources
⠀ Vibe With Me by Joakim Karudhttp://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
⠀ Music promoted by Audio Libraryhttps://youtu.be/-7YDBIGCXsY