Destressing During the Holidays

Stress has innumerable negative effects on your body, mind, health, and even relationships. I find stress to be unavoidable, but the way we react to it and navigate through it can be healing.

And the more stressed you are, the more stressed you may become. After all, stress leads to anxiety, loss of sleep, lack of productivity, and irritability, all of which are pretty stressful.

There’s no right answer to combatting stress–either during the holidays or the rest of the year–but it’s important to find your own way.

How to Survive the Stress

Here are some ideas of how to destress or even keep the stress away in the first place.

• Say no more often. Stress comes from having too much on our plates. Even when it’s things we enjoy doing, like meeting up with friends, planning a fun holiday, attending holiday parties, shopping for gifts, creating holiday cards, etc., when we commit to too much, we feel pressure to follow through. It’s okay to say no, and it’s also okay to commit to not doing as much as we have in the past.
• Plan ahead. You probably already know what stresses you out. If that’s the case, plan ahead! If your Uncle Charlie talking about politics is a stressor, have an exit strategy for your next holiday function. Or have a signal for your significant other to save you from a difficult situation. Planning ahead can also look like cooking your holiday meal in shifts, over the course of a few days. That way, you can just heat things up instead of spending your holiday in the kitchen.
• Commit to your health. Nothing staves off stress like good nutrition, plenty of sleep, and adequate exercise. Block off time on your calendar right now for that and hold it as a boundary. Don’t let anything get in the way of your sleep or exercise.
• Find a way to decompress. If stress does get the best of you, have a few tools to decompress. A rigorous workout, quiet time with a book or Netflix, getting your nails done, date night, even baking a treat…all of these might help you decompress after a particularly difficult day. If none of these resonate with you, find something that does!

The holidays are supposed to be relaxing and invigorating and a time to connect with family and ourselves. Don’t let stress knock you down or keep you from enjoying yourself.

Know in advance how you’re going to avoid the typical holiday stresses, and commit to taking care of yourself. You deserve it!