The holiday season is so full of joy. Sharing traditions with our families and creating memories this time of year is something a lot of us look forward to year after year.
We all have visions of those perfect family events, gifts, laughter and a steaming cup of hot tea enjoyed by a roaring fire.
But have you ever found yourself feeling stressed, frazzled, and wondering how you’re going to be able to get all of the shopping, cooking, and celebrating done — instead of jolly?
Have you been scrolling through social media with a wistful look at all those “other” families in their matching pajamas looking so happy?
Are you worried about how much you’re going to cook, organize, wrap and schedule — not to mention how you’re going to pay for it all?
If so, you’re not alone.
In a Healthline survey of over 2,000 people — over 60% reported feeling stressed out this time of year.
And as I talk about in-depth in my book, Built to Thrive, stress is not good for our health in many ways. In fact, reducing stress is one of the most important things I like my patients to focus on to improve their overall health and well being.
Since the holidays are an especially taxing time of year, I’ve put together a list of my favorite ways to slow down, relax, and savor the season.
Here are my go-to tricks for a peaceful and truly happy holiday:
Listen to your body
As a general rule, we’ve become disconnected from our bodies, and in many ways, we’ve been taught to ignore or dismiss signals our body is giving us.
Our bodies have the incredible ability to protect us from external threats. At one time, those threats involved things like wild animal attacks. Stressors came in the form of having to find food and shelter to survive.
Now, for the most part, we get stressed out about things like gifts for our child’s teacher and how we’re going to pay our credit card bill…problem is, our body interprets it at almost the same magnitude as an attack from a wild bear.
Cortisol starts firing off, insulin resistance rises, and any of the following symptoms might occur:
- Headache
- Tense muscles
- Shortness of breath
- Elevated heart rate
- Blood sugar issues
- Stomach pain
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
If you’re noticing one of these symptoms, take note. Try to observe what was happening before the symptoms started.
Were you thinking about how much you don’t want to go to that office holiday party and started to feel tense, short of breath and full of anxiety? Pay attention to the triggers and then address them.
Learning how to manage stress is no easy task, but when you learn to really listen to your body first and foremost, you can truly change your life.
Just say NO
For the most part, this holiday stress is something that we’ve chosen.
Because we’re conditioned to be afraid of missing out on something, we over-commit and over-extend.
Ultimately, we can just learn to choose the things that matter to us the most. Become really intentional about the things we allow to fill our time.
The key to this is determining your goals. Choosing what is truly important to you and forgetting the rest. It really is that simple.
Say your goal is to spend as much time as possible with your kids over the break from school, and a friend from work invites you to another holiday party you really don’t want to go to. You can decline the invitation.
If you truly love the art of wrapping gifts but hate cooking, spend your time on the gift wrapping and pick up pre-made food.
Learning the art of saying no is actually a beautiful thing. Protecting our boundaries and pursuing our joy is a great way to choose ourselves and ultimately choose our health.
JOMO
What’s JOMO you may ask?
JOMO is simply the joy of missing out. It’s the foil of FOMO, or fear of missing out. It’s a way of thinking that celebrates being present in our lives and content with what we have.
Look, social media can be a beautiful thing. But it can also be a trigger for anxiety and stress.
Being able to look at everyone’s perfectly curated highlight reel can make us feel inadequate. It can encourage jealousy and negativity too — as anyone who’s dealt with online bullying can attest to.
Sometimes, the answer is to simply step away. Take a break. Forget about those tiny pictures on your phone for a spell and just enjoy life in the real world.
And when we take a social media hiatus, we add time back into our day. Studies show the average person in the US spends a whopping 3 hours a day on their phone.
Use that found time to spend time in nature, which has been shown to decrease stress levels in just 20 minutes. Take a walk, or spend time with your loved ones. Social connections have been shown to increase oxytocin and those with strong social bonds are more likely to live longer.
Self care isn’t selfish
These days, self-care is kind of a buzzword, with influencers touting the benefits of massages, facials, and manicures.
But self-care as a stress management technique is actually way more important than taking a bubble bath (although those are great too!)
Self-care is really about making those intentional choices to put our health — mental and physical — first.
Some of the most important ways we can promote self-care are:
- Sleep — sleeping 7-9 hours a night is a foundation of good health and we handle stress so much better when we’re well-rested.
- Exercise — moving our bodies in some way every day is essential and is amazing for stress relief.
- Meditation — clearing the mind (especially when we’ve got so much to do) is one of the best ways to reduce stress.
- Eating an anti-inflammatory diet — when we don’t fuel our bodies properly, we are creating stress on the inside. Adding external stressors only makes things worse.
It’s OK to go slow
If all of this seems like a ton of changes to make at once, you’re probably right. And that’s just fine.
Small changes, implemented one at a time can eventually lead to an effective comprehensive stress management strategy.
Just try not to let this holiday season slip away in a flurry of stress and strife.
And if you need a little extra guidance, be sure to schedule a consultation with me here. I’d love to help you design your personalized holiday stress survival plan.
References
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-HKGQXN9J/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5115704/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180706102842.htm
