Holidays and stress management? Both of those need to come together if you wanna be less stressed in your life and enjoy time with your loved ones and family.
That is really important because we all know upcoming holidays cause stress in one way or another. For some people, it is less, for others, there is more stress.
Today we are going talk more about holiday stress and what you can do to manage it better and enjoy holidays more.
Holidays and Stress Management
Holiday time and also preparation time for holidays can be really stressful for sure. Stressful can be even simple cooking that you need to make it if not perfect then good enough for your whole family and relatives who come to join you over holidays.
Then there is another thing like gifts. Our society mostly thinks that we need to give each other presents.
The bigger your family you have, the worse could get, because each of your family members would want a present from you. There are also friends and the same nonsense happens again.
I personally am not against gifts, present fully, but do you really need some sometimes useless stuff each Christmas? That, in my opinion, isn’t good for you or the environment. I know we all live in a very materialistic world and think that more owned stuff brings more joy and happens into our lives. Is it?
This brings more stress to a nice Christmas time which should be about love, friendship, and caring about each other and not about stuff.
HOW TO MANAGE HOLIDAY STRESS?
5 Tips To Manage Stress
Here are simple ways and tips on how to manage the holiday stress that you may feel every time when Christmas or other holidays come.
1. Less is always better
Make less food. We don’t need to overstuff ourselves over holidays. This is bad for your health and well-being.
If you cook less or focus less on presents to each of your loved ones, you will be less stressed and spend more time with the people you actually care about.
Personally, I usually cook basic minima like traditional stewed sauerkraut and soy meat slices for Christmas. This year 3 generations were present – I, my mom, and grandma and we had a nice Christmas dinner. Other members of our family spent holidays in different locations.
I am so glad I have been taught to enjoy what I have and don’t focus on useless stuff and getting presents for everybody.
2. Be in the Present Moment
It is so important to be in the present moment and enjoy the time you spend alone or with loved ones. This works not only for holidays, but you always need to keep that in mind.
If you cook or prepare presents, be in the present moment and not think about the future or the past. That will make everything better and more peaceful.
3. Make Presents Yourself
There are some things that you can make yourself and give your family members or friends and don’t spend money buying expensive things. For sure this can also make you stressed.
It can be just nice and tasty cookies, a homemade book, or a card. I used to like making greeting cards for holidays and writing my own poems, words, and wishes. I enjoyed doing that.
That can also be stressful if you do those gifts at the last moments before the holidays so better plan this ahead.
4. Do All Things Timely and Don’t Do Them at the Last Moment
Time is an important element if you want to be less stressed. Do everything at the right time and don’t do things at the last moment, because that can cause a lot of stress. You can’t be sure if you will finish everything that you need to do before the holidays and at the right time.
This is why it is important to do everything at the right time and don’t procrastinate. The last one is a kind of big problem for a lot of us, including me.
The best thing you can do for yourself and your stress levels is plan everything ahead to make yourself less stressed and have a more peaceful holiday time.
5. Put yourself first
The last but not the least tip. It is really important to put yourself first, only then you can help others and make the best holidays for yourself, your family, and your loved ones.
Set aside some time for yourself to do things you enjoy. Maybe you need to go for a walk outside, exercise, or meet with your friend and have dinner out.
Conclusion
Holidays are important times for family and loved ones so it is important to learn to manage stress and make it less stressful during this special time.
Here you read about five tips on how to manage holiday stress. These are: less is always better, be in the present moment, make the presents yourself, do things timely, and put yourself first.
What do you think about this post? Holidays and stress management? What are you doing to manage it, to balance it? How do you usually deal with holiday stress? Please let me know in the comment section below!
If you wanna know more about holiday stress, CLICK HERE to read.
Thanks! Have a nice day! Until next time!
Linda Mo
Founder and owner of How To Reduce Stress Naturally