Christmas With Symptoms: A Different Way to Think About Your Healing
- Chantel Gibson
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
A Different Way to Think About Your Healing This Christmas
Christmas can be a really mixed time when you live with vestibular migraine or ongoing symptoms. If you’re reading this feeling frustrated that your body won’t let you relax, you’re not alone. On the outside, everything is telling you that this should be a happy, relaxed, joyful time. But inside, you might be feeling dizzy, spaced out, anxious, overwhelmed, or frustrated that your body isn’t doing what you want it to do.
If that’s you, I want you to know something first.
There is nothing wrong with you.
Your brain is not broken.
And your symptoms are not a sign that you are failing.
What you are experiencing is a nervous system that is trying to protect you.
Your Brain Is Trying to Keep You Safe
This is something I talk about a lot, because it changes everything when you truly understand it.
Your brain’s number one job is not to make you happy. It’s to keep you safe.
When your brain perceives threat, stress, pressure, fear, or emotional overload, it can switch on symptoms like dizziness, head pressure, visual disturbances, nausea, anxiety, and fatigue. Not because you’re damaged, but because your brain thinks you need protecting.
At Christmas, routines change. There’s more stimulation, more expectations, more emotion, more pressure to be “okay”. For a sensitised nervous system, that can feel like danger.
So symptoms appear.
Not to hurt you.
Not to punish you.
But to protect you.
Acceptance Is Not Giving Up
One of the hardest parts of healing is acceptance, because so many people think acceptance means giving up or resigning yourself to a life with symptoms.
It doesn’t.
Acceptance means stopping the fight. When you constantly battle your symptoms, analyse them, resent them, or fear them, your brain reads that as confirmation that something is wrong. That keeps the danger signal switched on.
Acceptance sounds more like this:
“I stopped checking my symptoms all day and my anxiety dropped.”
“Even when symptoms show up, I don’t spiral anymore.”
“I finally trust my body again.”
That shift alone can start to calm the nervous system.
Feeling the Symptoms Without Judgement
This is where real change happens. Instead of scanning, checking, or tensing against symptoms, I encourage people to gently feel what’s actually there.
Not in a forced way, not with urgency, but with curiosity.
What does the dizziness actually feel like?
Is it moving, heavy, light, floating?
Does it change when you stop fighting it?
When you feel sensations without labelling them as dangerous, your brain begins to learn something new. It learns that these sensations are not a threat.
And when the brain feels safe, it no longer needs to protect you with symptoms.
You’re Teaching Your Brain Bit by Bit
Healing is not about pushing through or proving anything. It’s about small, consistent signals of safety. Doing things bit by bit. Living your life alongside symptoms instead of waiting for them to disappear first. Showing your brain, gently and repeatedly, that you are okay.
This might look like:
Carrying on with your day, even if symptoms are present
Reducing checking and reassurance-seeking
Responding calmly when symptoms flare instead of panicking
Letting symptoms come and go without making them the focus
Every calm response is a message to your brain. Every moment of non-fear builds safety pathways. This is mindset work. This is brain retraining. And this is how long-term healing happens.
A Different Way to Enter the New Year
January often comes with pressure. New goals, new expectations, a feeling that you need to “sort yourself out”. But healing doesn’t come from pressure. It comes from understanding, compassion, and consistency.
If you’re tired of feeling stuck in fear cycles, if you understand the concepts but struggle to apply them, or if you just want support from someone who truly gets it, coaching can make a huge difference.
You don’t need fixing. You need guidance, reassurance, and help changing how you respond. My coaching is focused on:
Understanding why your symptoms are happening
Calming your nervous system
Changing your response to symptoms
Building confidence in your body again
Helping you live your life without fear running the show
Sessions are calm, supportive, and practical. There’s no pressure and no forcing.
To support you stepping into the new year feeling grounded and supported, I’m offering a January only coaching discount.
Normally:
£50 for a one-hour session
£180 for four sessions
January Offer:
£45 for a one-hour session
£160 for four sessions
This offer is available for sessions booked in January only and is perfect if you want to start the year with clarity, support, and a calmer mindset.
What People Say
“I finally understand why my symptoms were happening and that alone reduced my fear.”
“I feel calmer and more in control, even when symptoms show up.”
“I’ve stopped fighting my body, and things are slowly improving.”
“This is the first time I’ve felt truly understood.”
A Gentle Invitation
If you’re reading this and something resonates, trust that. You don’t have to do this alone, you don’t have to wait until you feel braver, you don’t have to be symptom-free to start.
Healing begins when you change how you relate to your body. If you’d like to start coaching in January, you can book directly through the website or get in touch for a chat to see if it feels right for you. Let this Christmas be a time of kindness towards yourself. Your brain is trying to protect you, and together, we can teach it that you are safe.
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