5 Simple Steps To Holiday Stress Relief

OMG, they started running ads for the Rockettes Radio City holiday show in August! I saw a Christmas tree in a store window on Columbus Day. Springsteen’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town could be heard on Halloween! What’s next, hot dogs, apple pie and eggnog on the Fourth of July?

They call it Christmas creep, and we could easily laugh it off as obvious commercial holiday hijacking if that dreadful thought didn’t creep in with it: “Only 182 days till I can relax.” The creep has another stress side effect. It fuels the two biggest complaints of the frazzled and fatigued everywhere who say that there’s not enough time to get everything done, and no time to sit back and do nothing. Dropping St. Nick down the chimney in July sends a subliminal message that the end of the year will be here before you know it, so get off the beach and get ready to watch the ball drop.

We could fill ten of Santa’s sacks with all the reasons that a lot of us get stressed and depressed during a time when were supposed to be merry and bright. For sure, many of our gooses get cooked when we let habits take over and buy into the seasonal avalanche of commercial and social pressure to score lots of perfect gifts, revel in all the parties, skip through the airport like a sugar plumb fairy, and love every last minute of time spent with those we travel to see.

Wait! Do we really have to listen nonstop to the holiday Hot 100? Must we buy as many gifts? Is attending and eating at all the parties mandatory? I’m not suggesting that we toss out the manger, menorah, mkeka and the rest of the Christmas, Hanukah and Kwanza favorites, but for traditions that get your Scrooge on, consider a different path through the end of the year to prevent season’s greetings from turning into season’s gratings.

Formula For More Holiday Cheer

Holiday stress prevention and management require advance planning, so grab those reindeer by their antlers and follow these five steps which, ironically, start with making a list and checking it twice.

1. Ho-ho-hold on a minute! Use the first sighting of a holiday decoration as your signal to identify holiday traditions that cause you the most stress such as shopping, over-eating and traveling. Then, write down a few facts and feelings that make these activities unpleasant, including rude crowds, unwanted weight gain and unbearable Black Friday traffic, for example.
2. Break out your nutcracker. Come up with strategies to modify those traditions to stop or reduce the stress that accompanies them: shop on line instead of at the crowded mall, give homemade presents that really mean something, plate smaller portions of stuffing, latkes, black-eyed peas and gingerbread people, and so on.
3. Tis the season of giving yourself a break. Plan and schedule solo and group activities that you really enjoy. These stocking stuffers give you things to look forward to and balance the holiday stuff you can’t avoid. Read that book, take a hike, take a bath, take naps, etc
4. Gobble gobble. Explain your holiday stress-prevention plans to your family and friends so they don’t stress out when they see you marching to the beat of your own drummer boy this year. Your example might be an inspiring gift to others looking for similar light.
5. Ring-a-ling. Tell Siri or someone else you hold dear to remind you to follow-through on your holiday stress-prevention pledge. Better yet, get a colleague or companion to take these same steps toward a happier and healthier holiday season. Check each other’s progress and support one another when you feel you don’t have enough oil to make it to January.

Take holiday stress seriously because, even without Thanksgiving, New Year’s, Eve and everything in between, the end of the year would still have the highest stress potential in many parts of the world. On their own, less daylight, colder temperatures, snowy roads, colds and flu, and December 31st deadlines, spin up our stress and anxiety like a dreidel on ice. Addressing holiday stress makes sense since it’s more predictable and controllable than say the next polar vortex.

Retailers, party planners and playlist programmers may disagree, but November and December belong to you and yours. Hang this notion on your tree and be your own stress management miracle worker this season.

Happier Holidays!