How to avoid the stress on Christmas?
Christmas is known to be the most joyful time of the year, but it seems that for many people Christmas is a very stressful time due to the many social interactions that feel forced. Is not just seeing family that we rather not see sometimes, it is also friends and even parties and events that require us to join in and be social in a very much not organic way.
Beside the social pressure, we are somehow expected to create a wonderful magic time through gatherings, decorations and presents.
So for one reason or another that Christmas stress might catch us, so we want you to have some tools to protect yourself and control the amount of stress that you might go under during this holidays.
Don’t get overwhelmed; here is what you should do:
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Plan your holidays ahead
It might sound that planning your holidays, which days you are going to be with your family, with your in-laws and joining parties and celebrations would only build up our anxiety, but the truth is that by planning you can try to find some balance and not decide everything last minute.
Planning ahead will allow you to save yourself hours in line to buy last minute presents, too pricey last minute flights and the stress of seeing your bank account suffer because you have not budgeted right for the holidays.
There are some things during the holidays that you can avoid, but the stress of last minute planning is something you can easily safe yourself.
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Shop online
If there is something that can bring us to the edge is the lines at the cashier in every single store right before Christmas, carrying the stuff, finding the specific thing we want and then over spending when we have to change plans in the last minute and we just want to leave the store.
The best way to safe ourselves from such ordeal just do all your shopping online, just make sure you do it some time ahead so everything you buy gets to you on time.
Same thing with any important groceries that you might have to do towards any Christmas celebration, as much as possible, do it online and save yourself the lines and the loud Christmas music coming from above.
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Set some limits
It is true that none of us want to disappoint our friends and family, and we also understand the importance of taking every opportunity to socialize and make interesting professional contacts, but at the same time, it is important to accept that we all have limits and know what is best for us.
There is no need to take things to an extreme where we feel overwhelmed and we might explode, so just be realistic and honest to yourself and decide where your boundaries are.
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Sleep well and stay healthy
Christmas is the time that we abuse the most. There are so many treats and celebrations that we can easily find ourselves over eating, drinking too much and maybe having too much coffee to keep up with all the festivities and preparations.
That will only make us feel more tired and stressed and therefore turn the experience into something negative.
So as much as possible, try to enjoy all the yummy food and parties but controlling whenever is possible. Make sure you still sleep as many hours as you need and don’t wear yourself out or you might not make it to New Years Eve.
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Have an escape plan ready in case you need it
Sometimes we just need a minute to breathe, sometimes 10 to have some silence and sometimes what we need is an excuse to not go where we are requested to be celebrating.
Whichever the case is, our advice is to have an escape plan ready, whether is call that you need to answer, a person you need to help or a sudden sickness that would sadly hold you at home. Just do whatever you need to do to keep you sane.
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Enjoy, really
Yes, Christmas is stressful, and yes it can seem annoying at many points, but is only a couple weeks a year and there are many things to enjoy about it that you only get to do those days, so find the joy in seeing the people you don’t usually see, eating the food you don’t normally eat or maybe just taking a walk to see the lights or ice skate somewhere around your town.
