Holiday Stress Tips

Do the holidays stress you out? Me too!! Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and all those events in between can be a lot of pressure. Read on for some holiday stress tips that I apply myself and some new ones I have just discovered.

Once summer is over and the leaves begin to turn colors on the trees many people get excited for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. For a lot of other people, it immediately brings feelings of anxiety, sadness, and hopelessness. The holiday season can be handled if you know what areas bring you stress and create a plan to deal with it. Here are some holiday stress tips to survive the holidays this year:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the warmup to weeks of random holiday meetings, parties and visits from family and friends. Put your holiday stress management plan into action before you sit down to have that Turkey.

• Host your own thanksgiving dinner and invite who you want.
• Is a problematic family member coming to dinner? You can enlist trusted family members who can form a “team” assigned to check that persons behavior.
• Does your whole family act up at gatherings? Try inviting new outside friends/family, people often go on their best behavior when there are people who they don’t know around them.
• Have a Friendsgiving, it’s similar to Thanksgiving dinner but has more casual fun options. Instead of being stuck in a room full of extended family, you would be surrounded by friends.
• Express your feelings. Do you feel mad when Uncle Stan talks down to you? Let him know. Does Aunt Sandra always try to leave with a whole pan of food? Tell her how you feel. Often times we hold in our feelings and never let others know how much they are hurting us.
• Single? Prepare a nice meal and enjoy with another single friend or eat alone and Netflix binge on a show you wouldn’t normally watch.
• Don’t serve alcohol(or have a limited supply), it will eliminate drunken bad behavior.
• Have activities and designated areas for the kids, and shifts for the adults to watch the kids. This will keep the children from running all over the house and disrupting adult time.

Christmas

Christmas is fun but another holiday in which you can run yourself into the ground. Whether gift wrapping, baking cookies for Santa or shopping, be sure that you are getting enough rest, hydrated and eating small meals.

• Make a list and do gift shopping early, you will only get what you need and can purchase it before the price is inflated for the holidays.
• Only buy what you can afford.
• You do not have to buy gifts for everyone, for example many only buy gifts for the children in their life.
• Ignore the advertisements that try to convince you to buy , it’s hard but you know you really don’t need an 80 inch TV that’s “on sale”.

Also remember that this holiday season isn’t just about you. There are others who could be in need during this time of the year. It could be a friend, family or a stranger. It’s a good time to reconnect with friends/family you haven’t spoken to in a while, do charity work or meet new people.

How do you plan on beating holiday stress this year?