The holidays can be a wonderful time to celebrate historic occasions, see those you haven’t seen in a while and enjoy some quality time with loved ones. However, every holiday provides its own source of stress and frustration. From family issues to planning problems, as fun as the holidays can be, they are often a source of stress for many of us. Fortunately, you can survive popular holidays by employing a few tactics that will help you handle whatever issues come your way.
Have the Right Mindset
Whether it’s New Years Eve or the Fourth of July, keep a sense of humor about the entire occasion. According to Linda Walter, contributing writer for Psychology Today, a common source of stress around the holidays is taking everything too seriously. The holidays are a chance to relax, and enjoy time spent with family and friends. Walter recommends that you do not take dramatic events, like your aunt breaking down in tears about coleslaw, too seriously. Allow yourself to a relaxed sense of passive enjoyment. Instead of being embarrassed that your uncle would rather watch the game than join the family, hand him a brew and watch it with him.
Avoid becoming too strict when it comes to planning and logistics. Trying to coordinate a big family get-together for the holidays can be extremely difficult and frustrating. When you make plans, also allow for the instance that your relatives and friends are late or totally absent. If a plan just doesn’t happen, allow a new natural plan to take its place. If you are trying to organize a family effort to find the best Christmas tree possible, and plans fall through, understand you will always be able to reschedule.
Walter suggests that one source of stress during popular holidays is that we see friends and family who we may not have seen in years. This can bring up past trauma and childhood patterns. Grown adults can be reduced to bickering, even if they haven’t argued like that in their adult lives. By continually focusing on the day at hand, you can help avoid this common holiday blunder.
Additionally, Walter warns against developing a rigid idea about what the ideal, or perfect, holiday will be. Most holidays, from Halloween to Valentine’s Day, have a tendency to be viewed and remembered as a wondrous, magical experience. However, once the holiday approaches, you will find out that the holiday is really just another day out of the year and you’ll still have to deal with the stresses of daily life. Walter suggests that avoiding over-idealizing holidays can dramatically reduce additional stress caused by disappointment.
Maintain Your Usual Habits
Each holiday presents unique and difficult situations. Christmas and Thanksgiving tend to incite overeating and overspending, and Valentine’s Day can make single folks feel unnecessarily lonely. Instead of going along with the usual trend, try to maintain your daily habits. You may even be able to develop some new ones to take with you throughout the rest of the year.
- Avoid Excess – If you are on a strict diet or abstaining from alcohol, do not use the holidays as an excuse to break from your rigid discipline. Walter suggests that avoiding this excessive behavior can also avoid the inevitable feelings of guilt, which can accumulate to make the holidays an unpleasant experience.
- Continue to Exercise – Any change in your usual routine can lead to stress. This is amplified even more when dealing with physical fitness. When you’re in shape, you tend to be happier and more relaxed. As you begin to fall out of your healthy habit, there is a tendency to be more irritable and unpleasant. Walter suggests that if you are involved in any type of regular exercise, you continue this routine as you approach the holidays.
You Can Survive the Holidays
Whether you are single on Valentine’s Day or you have to deal with unpleasant in-laws on New Year’s, you can last through the holidays by maintaining your daily routine and cultivating the right outlook. As you continue to grow and experience more holidays, you will develop your own unique strategies that will help you deal with the likes of relatives and long-lost friends.
Image provided by Flickr’s Creative Commons
About the Author: Wesley Melbourne is a contributing writer and holiday cynic. While he enjoys seeing family and the festivities, he can’t help but dread the holiday season. Fortunately, he has been able to develop strategies for taking them in stride, such as running regularly.
I barely survived Christmas. I have no idea how I’m going to survive Valentine’s Day. My girlfriend left me last spring and it’s been no luck in the romantic department since. Ugh.