Holiday Behavior Science: Why We Struggle This Time of Year — and How to Stay Grounded

The holidays are meant to feel joyful, but they also come with disrupted routines, emotional triggers, social pressure, and a long list of expectations. If your habits feel harder to maintain this month, there’s nothing wrong with you. Your brain is responding exactly the way it’s designed to respond under stress, uncertainty, and change.

This isn’t about discipline. It’s about understanding what’s happening beneath the surface — whether you're an athlete trying to stay consistent, a professional managing year-end pressure, or simply a human navigating a demanding season.

1. Your Brain Loses Predictability in December

Humans thrive on structure. Predictability reduces cognitive load and keeps decision-making efficient — something that matters in performance environments of all kinds. December removes almost all of it:

• Social events ramp up

• Sleep schedules shift

• Work deadlines pile up

• Travel interrupts routines

• Emotional triggers become more frequent

  
  

When structure disappears, habits become harder to maintain and performance — physical, mental, or professional — becomes less stable. That’s not a personal flaw. It’s biology.

2. Stress Shifts Your Behavior

In high-stress environments, the brain becomes more reactive and prioritizes short-term relief over long-term goals. This is true whether you’re preparing for competition, leading a team, or trying to maintain everyday habits. Stress can create:

• Impulsivity

• Emotional eating or numbing

• Scrolling or avoidance

• Irritability

• Difficulty staying consistent

  
  

If you’ve said, “I know what I should be doing, but I’m not doing it,” this is why. Your nervous system is overloaded, making performance-based decision-making much harder.

3. The Holiday Environment Works Against You

Even the most resilient performers struggle when the environment is misaligned with their goals.

December brings:

• More cues to indulge or disconnect

• Less time for movement or recovery

• More comparison and self-judgment

• Fewer boundaries

• Higher emotional labor

  
  

Environment shapes behavior and performance more than motivation ever will — for athletes, leaders, and everyday people alike.

4. Your Identity Gets Pulled in Different Directions

This time of year often creates an identity collision:

• Who you want to be vs. Who people expect you to be

  
  

You might want to stay consistent, show up in your role, or protect your energy…but you also want to belong, maintain peace, or avoid conflict.

This tension drains mental bandwidth and affects how you think, perform, and follow through.

Identity friction doesn’t just impact habits — it impacts confidence, decision-making, and presence.

5. What Actually Helps? Practical Ways to Stay Aligned

Lower the goal without losing the goal

All-or-nothing thinking is a performance killer.

Instead of perfection, ask:

“What’s the smallest version of this habit or priority I can realistically maintain?”

Small consistency holds your identity in place, which helps maintain confidence and momentum.

Use Behavioral Anchors

Anchors stabilize your mental, emotional, and physical state — something high performers rely on:

• Drink water before coffee

• 5–10 minute walk

• One grounding exercise in the morning

• 2-minute wind-down at night

  
  

Small anchors keep your system steady when the rest of the environment isn’t.

Set boundaries before you need them

Leaders, athletes, and families all benefit from proactive boundaries.

Plan ahead around:

• Time

• Energy

• Food

• Spending

• Social commitments

You hold boundaries more effectively when you set them in a calm state.

Reframe slip-ups

Instead of judgment, use:

“My system was overwhelmed. I can reset.”

Self-compassion improves follow-through more than self-criticism — across every performance domain.

Focus on the next aligned action

Not the perfect action.Not the hardest action.

Just the next aligned one.

This is how high performers regain momentum — one small course correction at a time.

6. December Isn’t a Test of Discipline

It’s a test of:

• Awareness

• Self-regulation

• Flexibility

• Identity stability

• Values in action

Whether you’re coaching athletes, leading a team, or simply trying to navigate the season, December challenges your internal systems more than your external habits.

Your goal this month isn’t to transform. It’s to remain connected to who you want to be — even when the environment is chaotic.

A Final Thought

Progress in December looks different.If your habits don’t look the way they did in October, that’s normal. You’re carrying more mental, emotional, and logistical load.

The win this month is staying in relationship with your goals and identity — not abandoning them.

You don’t need a perfect plan. You need a compassionate, grounded strategy.

⭐ If You Want Extra Support

If reading this brings up questions about your own patterns or you’re noticing places where you feel pulled out of alignment, I offer a free 30-minute consult.

It’s not a sales call. It’s a space for us to talk, understand whether we’re the right fit to work together, and set clear expectations so you know exactly what this work looks like. Sometimes I’ll offer an initial insight or a small action to try — not as homework, but as a way to help you understand what might support you right now.

There’s no pressure to commit. It’s simply a chance to pause, get clarity, and see if the kind of work I do is what you need.