Embrace the Holidays: Strategies To Enjoy and Not Just Endure This Holiday Season
The holiday season, while festive and joyful for many, can also be a period of significant stress. According to the American Psychiatric Association, 31% of Americans experience increased holiday stress, primarily from financial pressures, travel, and high expectations. However, this time of year doesn't have to be a cycle of stress, coping, and exhaustion.
Here's how you can reframe your holiday experience to be more fulfilling and less stressful.
Understanding Stress: Stress is a normal response to challenges, signaling the body that there's a threat or pressure. Here’s how it manifests:
Acute Stress: Short-term, dissipates once the stressor is gone.
Chronic Stress: Persistent, can lead to long-term health issues if not managed.
Symptoms of Stress:
Physical: Headaches, changes in appetite, sleep disturbances, fatigue.
Emotional: Anxiety, irritability, sadness, overwhelm.
Strategies to Manage Holiday Stress:
Reframe Your Stressors:
Change Your Perspective: Instead of viewing holiday tasks as burdens, see them as opportunities for joy or connection. For instance, if you are going to go to a party then there is not sense in complaining about it. After all, you can say NO, but if you say YES then don't complain. You made a choice.
Journaling for Gratitude and Clarity:
Take time each day to write about what you are grateful for during the holidays. Focus on why these things matter to you. This practice shifts your focus from what's lacking to what's abundant in your life.
Effective Time Management:
Preparation reduces anxiety. Map out your holiday schedule:
List all necessary tasks.
Break them into daily actions.
Schedule these in time blocks. This visual planning can alleviate the mental load.
Play Out the Worst Case Scenario:
Inspired by Stoic philosophy, envision the worst outcome for your stressors. Often, you'll realize that even in the worst scenario, life continues, and you can handle it. As Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said "Choose not to be harmed and you haven't been." It doesn't have to be a big deal.
Engage with Adaptive Stressors:
Regularly engage in activities that condition your body and mind to handle stress better:
Exercise, whether it's lifting weights like you enjoyed reading about in magazines, or running, these activities raise your stress threshold and are good for you for obvious reasons.
Sauna sessions or cold plunges. These help you to adapt to things that "suck."
Breathwork practices.
Recommended Reading:
For deeper personal transformation:
"The Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer
"Letting Go" by Dr. David Hawkins
"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle
Lastly, this holiday season, let's shift from enduring to enjoying. By changing our relationship with what we perceive as stressors, planning effectively, and engaging in activities that strengthen our resilience, we can transform our holiday experience. Remember, the essence of the holidays is not in perfection but in presence, connection, and gratitude. Here's to making this holiday not just bearable but truly enjoyable.
