Are you feeling stressed out this holiday season? I know the feeling! With five kids and a list a mile long, I know exactly how you feel. I feel like I’ve run out of time (Christmas is RIGHT around the corner!). However, the holidays don’t have to be a time of stress – I promise! Here are a few ways you can fight the holiday stress:
Slow down
Think about it. When you are going a mile a minute, it is so hard to enjoy what is going on around you. My advice to you is to slow down! Enjoy what is going on around you and take one step at a time. Just throwing this out there: what’s the point of celebrating the holidays if we are doing everything with a bad attitude??
Don’t do it all yourself
I have had to learn this time and time again. The holidays are not meant for you to carry all the stress on your own shoulders. Split up the holiday tasks with whomever is willing to help you. If you do have to do everything yourself, keep things as simple as possible. It’s OK to minimize, especially if it means keeping your sanity.
Start doing things now
There’s no time like NOW to start. There are no rules that tell you that you need to start a week before Christmas. I start buying small items for Christmas dinner a month before our feast. I also start stocking up on gifts a few months before. Nothing spells stress like letting allowing everything to build up or waiting til the last minute and discovering that all of the things you need are sold out.
Install a non-drama clause
Listen, it’s the holidays. The last thing you want to do is deal with drama. You can help avoid drama by not engaging it. I tell my people that if they want drama they need to go somewhere else. I just do not have the time for it. No drama = a lot less stress in my life around the holidays.
Eat healthy and get plenty of sleep
As great as the holiday candy tastes and as much fun as it is staying up late watching movies, it’s not worth it when it happens every single day. Take care of yourself first. This is a time of year in which everything is demanding your attention. While you may not be able to fully control the things and people fighting for your attention, remember that YOU get to decide where your attention goes.
Practice stress relief
If you are like me, stress builds up inside and then I explode. Something I have realized is that I need some sort of stress relief. Some days that is taking a much-needed nap and other days it is enjoying a hot bath after the kids leave for school.
Tell me, what are some ways you fight off holiday stress?
If you liked this, you’ll love these too!
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All good advice, if only folks would stick to some of it (ahem … no dram please!)
I should have started earlier. I also should have done the christmas food shopping earlier. Instead i have to go out tonight and tomorrow night to get it all done after work and somehow clean my house in between. Why do I drive myself crazy each year.
Starting Christmas early and getting presents early really helps with not having so much stress over the Holidays. The biggest stress for me is all the cooking and cleaning! But I make enough to last for a couple of days so I do not have to cook after the Holidays.