Surviving Halloween as a Highly Sensitive Mom
Boo! It’s Halloween and if you are a highly sensitive mom like me, that means you are deep in the trenches of overstimulation, overscheduling, and pressures to perform and make it magical. This may also mean that you are getting pretty close to your breaking point, about to lose it on everyone around you and feeling as though you are hanging on by a thread. Here are a few tips for navigating the chaos of spooky season!
Being a highly sensitive parent means that you feel things deeply. You feel emotions more deeply, which includes your own emotions as well as the emotions of those around you. Around Halloween, your kids are likely pretty amped up with excitement and perhaps even nerves surrounding the holiday. With all of the excitement of dressing up and heading out to trick or treat with their friends and neighbours, kids may be experiencing more explosive reactions than usual. As a highly sensitive parent you will be feeling these responses deeply and may take on the weight of attempting to solve or fix all of their feelings. If you notice this happening, take a deep breath and remember that your children’s emotions are not a threat. You don’t need to play into the sense of urgency, and you are allowed to take a few moments away to gather yourself.
Reduce the pressure! You work so hard to provide fun, exciting, and novel experiences for your kids and your kids love it, but not as much as they love having you present and spending time with you. If decorating the house in all the Halloween decorations and making an elaborate Halloween snack brings you joy and can be done without reaching your capacity, all the power to you! If you feel like a pressure cooker about to go off when you think about having to get everything ready, let’s go ahead and strike a few things off your to-do list. In the end, your kids will love an appreciate you hanging out with them far more than they’d ever care about those cutesy mummy hotdogs you saw on pinterest.
Set your own personal boundaries around trick or treating. Heading out with the kids is so much fun, but when it starts to become not so fun, it’s time to call it a night and head back in. If you know you’ve only got a 30 minute limit on your capacity tonight, that’s ok! Again, in the long run your kids will appreciate and remember the quality of time, not the quantity. That means we’d like to avoid anyone in the family hitting max capacity and blowing up, so head back home when you need to.
Be aware of sugar and caffeine consumption. Indulge, have some fun! Just be mindful of the fact that sugar and caffeine can add to anxiety and overwhelm so if you find yourself feeling a bit more on edge the day after Halloween, go easy on yourself.
Remember, Halloween is an overwhelming experience no matter how many boundaries you put in place. So make sure to limit how many responsibilities and activities you have to navigate in the days leading up to and following Halloween. Give your nervous system a bit of a break. Be gentle on yourself if you simply don’t have the capacity to do as much as you typically would. This is normal and completely expected.
Remember to take care of yourself this Halloween! Notice and protect the energy you have, and remember that ‘good enough’ is always better than perfect!
