5 Tips To De-Stress The Holiday Season

Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a joyous restorative holiday season.

But for many people, the holiday season can be stressful and challenging. You see the rest of the year, we have our normal schedule, which can be stressful enough as it is, and then comes…

The Holiday Season.

So today I’m going to discuss five ways to de-stress the holiday season.

So like I said: …and then comes The Holiday Season and everything that goes with it.

There’s holiday shopping, like online shopping, there’s shopping malls, there’s waiting onlines.

And then there’s the holiday traffic, which it seems like every person on the universe is on the roads at the same time. And everybody has seemingly forgotten all of the traffic rules.

Then there’s all of the family plans that we have and how are we going to fit them in?

Then there’s the stress of all the money that you’re going to spend during the holiday season…

And then there’s the possibly, passive aggressive family member that you have, maybe an “Uncle Lou” that wants to talk about politics and vaccines and how bad the dinner is when he’s sitting at the table of somebody else that’s serving him, right?…

And then you have your own expectations of what you want from the holiday season…

And then there’s a time constraints on your already busy schedule of work and children.

And you just don’t know how you’re going to get it all done. This is where you queue in the stress meme where it’s.

So let’s talk about stress.

What is stress?

First of all, I want you to remember…

STRESS IS NORMAL.

In an article written by Dr. John Delony. He describes stress as our mind and body’s reaction to pressing responsibilities and the demand put on our lives.

He states that in the short term, stress can actually be good for us. It can keep us sharp, focused, and alert, but if we are chronically stressed, it can do as harm both mentally and physically. It’s like slamming your foot on the gas pedal and the brake at the same time! Eventually something’s going to burn out and melt down and it will do us harm.

And society tells us that the holiday season is stressful as well. We are poked and prodded by social media and ads telling us that we should be shopping right now and that there’s not enough time to do it all.

We also have daylight savings time around the same time. Some of us leave early for work and it’s dark when we leave. And it’s also dark when we get home.  I think we all get our own version of seasonal effective disorder, and guess what? Maybe they should call it  “Holiday Seasonal Affective Disorder”?

Remember, the holiday season should be a time for celebration, but for many it’s overwhelming and stressful, and they survive the holidays looking to get back to January; to some sense of normalcy.

So let’s change things up this year, shall we and make this season a wonderful time to look forward to.

Remember,

“If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always be what you’ve always been.”

So let’s look at some tips. We can go over to see some positive changes.

So how can you De-Stress the holiday season and bring back the joyous times and focusing on the right things.

So the First Tip is:  To Make The Choice.

The thing that you have 100% control over in your life are your thoughts and your actions.

So this holiday season, I want you to make the choice to have a positive holiday season.

The Second Tip is:

To be the person that you want to feel like in the holidays.

I want you to make a conscious exaggerated effort to act in a way that you would want other people and yourself to act.

I want you to hold the door open for somebod,…

Give somebody the prime parking spot that you had an eye on…

Park further away and enjoy the walk that you can have to the store and get some well needed exercise.

I want you to go out of your way and say, “please”, and “thank you” to everybody that you interact with during your day…

Bring food or clothing to a Goodwill center, to help out a needy family.

You may not think you have timed in your already hectic schedule to do something like this, but I can guarantee you, if you do something kind for somebody else, you will see the positive change in your own life.

The Third Tip is: Make A Plan.

I want you to list out all of the things that you need to get done during your holiday season. And you’re going to plan on how you’re going to accomplish them.

You see there’s a tendency to procrastinate when you get overwhelmed.  You get so stressed that you get paralyzed and you will put things off.

But if you make a list and plan out how you’re going to accomplish these things, your stress level will come down.

Fourth Tip: Set boundaries and limits on yourself.

Remember you make the choices.

You can decide how much you can get done each day.

How much shopping will you would do? Who will you visit? How much time would you stay there? How much money will you spend during the holiday season?

The more specific you are with your boundaries and limits on yourself, the less stress you’ll have.

Remember we want to De-Stress the holidays.

Fifth Tip: Focus On What You Can Control.

Remember you have 100% control over your thoughts and your actions.

You may not be able to control what somebody says to you at a family gathering, or how somebody treats you in a store or the weather or the darkness for that matter.

But you have 100% control of how you respond.

Charles Swindoll said,

“Life is 10% What happens to you, And 90%, how you respond to it”.

So try this. The next time when you go to that family party that would normally annoy you and Lncle Lou says something that’s offensive, try a couple of things.

You could not respond to Uncle Lou.

You could not let it bother you.

You can move to another room.

I guarantee you, if you go out of your way to change how you respond to these situations, it will change your outlook on everything. And it will make a big difference in how your holiday seasons are.

So in review,

the five tips to De-Stress the holiday season. Number one, make the choice, make the choice that you are in control and that you will make this holiday season a positive one.

Two is be the person that you want to be and want to feel like during the holiday season.

Three is make a plan.

Four is set boundaries and limits for yourself.

And five is focused on what you can control.

So I promise you if you incorporate these tips into your holiday season, that you’ll see this holiday season as a joyous celebration, rather than a stressful time.

I wish you a wonderful Holiday season.

Have a wonderful Week!

Be Positive, Be Motivated, Be Focused and Be Well,

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