Holiday Stress Management Tips

As the holiday season approaches, many of us are filled with joy, excitement, cheer, and stress. It’s the most important time of year for many people. Special outfits are purchased. Photographs are being taken. Meetings are planned.

People are paying exorbitant prices to fly through dangerous weather just to be together. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to use this season to reconnect with the sacred heart of our spirituality. We want it to be more than just pretty and entertaining; we want it to be meaningful.

Here are some ideas from our life coaches to make your holidays more meaningful, less stressful, and more enjoyable.

Maintain your Healthy Habits

Make a deal with yourself over the holidays. Decide, for example, that you will move more and do something active every day for the next three weeks. Take it a step further and commit to eating a healthy breakfast, limiting sweets, and getting at least seven hours of sleep each night. If you don’t completely abandon your healthy habits, you won’t feel the need to restart after the holidays.

Choose Experiences Over Possessions

Remember that no one remembers the things at the end of the day. It is not about the decoration. It isn’t about the beautifully decorated cookies or the handcrafted ornaments. This isn’t a crafting competition. It’s about having the chance to show the people you care about that you love them in a tangible way.

Memories, not things, are seared into our brains by emotionally charged experiences. People remember their experiences and how they felt while they were having them. Instead of focusing so much of your time and energy on physical objects, focus on doing things with people with the emphasis on having fun. The particulars don’t matter. Simply laugh and be happy with the people you care about.

Establish Your Priorities

You only have so much time and energy, and life doesn’t stop just because it’s the holidays. We must still arrive at work on time, appropriately dressed. We must write contracts, meet with clients, feed children, and maintain civil relationships with our spouses. Mundane tasks must still be done. Holiday activities are not an exception, but rather an addition.

Perfectionism can distort our expectations, making things we want to do feel like things we have to do. Remember, you don’t. People who are stressed out during the holidays are frequently duped into believing that the things they want to do are actually things they must do.

Schedule time to complete everything you truly need to do first, and then determine how much time you have left over to take on board. Pursuit of perfection always leads to feelings of guilt and inadequacy. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, focus on two or three priorities that are most important to you and be willing to say no, compromise, or delegate the rest.

Be Prepared to Establish Boundaries

With the influx of presents, decorations, and people during the holidays, our homes can quickly become chaotic. This can have a negative impact on your mental and emotional well-being, especially if you value order and time alone. Remember that you are not required to celebrate the holidays in the same way that others do. Everyone has their own version of the truth.

Some people are energized by the hustle and bustle, decorations, and other trinkets. They see the abundance of gifts, decorations, and people as the dessert buffet of a rich and full life. Other people in similar situations feel anxious and overwhelmed, and they perceive holiday guests as intrusions and decorations as clutter. They might prefer quiet, spiritual solitude.

You are entitled to a joyous holiday season, but only you can define it. While stress is normal and even beneficial to our health, if we do not listen to and respond to it, it will quickly turn into anxiety. Get to the bottom of what bothers you, devise a proactive plan to address the source of your stress, and put it into action.