This is a guest post by Brad of http://selfcaring.info/ blog.
The Christmas season can be full of joy, splendor, and laughter. However, many of us experience high amounts of stress and anxiety during this otherwise festive time of year. It can be difficult to handle and harder still to explain, but you don’t need to suffer. There are ways you can process and deal with your anxieties in a healthy way.
How Stress Manifests
The holidays can cause stress for us due to a number of reasons. The more common ones are: lack of time to get everything done, money being tight, feeling lonely, not wanting to spend time with family, and expectations not being met. Sometimes, things are simply too overwhelming which can cause stress to pile up. You may find yourself losing sleep because you are unable to turn your mind off or that your emotions fluctuate, sometimes without immediate cause. Our bodies may develop aches or illness as a result of the prolonged stress. Thankfully, there are ways to treat it, even on the tightest of schedules.
When you have time to enjoy the things you love, you may cut back on procrastination and have more energy to devote to the holidays.
-Brad Krause
Balance Your Time
Finding the means to accomplish every detail on our holiday lists is a quick way to become overwhelmed. Between the shopping, planning, cooking, work, family plans, and socializing, we may not be able to find time to sleep. Yet, caring for yourself needs to be a priority. It may come down to telling some people you can’t attend an event or asking those in your life for help, especially if you always have the lion’s share of work. If you have kids, assign them tasks to help and/or up their chores in return for Christmas treats. Ask your partner to take some of the load to make things evenly dispersed. If you’re hosting the holidays and friends and family are local, turn the event into a potluck. Everyone bringing a dish spreads the cheer and lessens your work. To really harness your time, make a list of what you need to do and when it needs to be done by.
Control Your Environment
One way we can help to keep our stressors down is to get the right amount of sleep. By getting plenty of rest, we can improve how we feel, both physically and emotionally. Our bodies are in better condition, and we can typically handle stress better. One way to improve the sleep we get is to transform our bedroom environments. First, organize your space to use it only for sleeping. That means no work and no leisure activities; those should be moved elsewhere. Make sure you have thick curtains or blinds to keep the room dark. Keep the thermostat low, and think of ways you can feel more comfortable. That may mean getting a new mattress, better pillows, or a sound machine to block out noise pollution. If you sleep well, you’ll be more able to face the coming day and prepare for the madness of the holidays.
Find Time for Yourself
If you are constantly on the go, you’ll burn out and not end up enjoying this magical time of year. By giving yourself breaks, you may even be able to create more time for the things that need to get done. When you have time to enjoy the things you love, you may cut back on procrastination and have more energy to devote to the holidays. That doesn’t mean you have to take an hour every single day to devote to your meditation practice. Instead, schedule “you” time for a few minutes here and there throughout the day to help ground yourself. Make these moments a priority and actually put them into your daily plans. The little things, like 10 minutes doing yoga or 15 minutes reading, can really add up.
Don’t let the holidays get you down. Yes, there is a lot you need to do, and things may not be what we want them to be. However, by taking care of ourselves, we can reduce our stress. This should be a time of joy, after all, and not one of anxiety.
Image Courtesy of Pexels
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