De-Stressing the Holidays

It's the holiday season and that means STRESS. No matter how much you enjoy family and friends, the changes in your daily schedule, diet, exercise, and the attempt to meet expectations, can all lead to increased stress. The key to successful holidays is found in balance. If you can learn to balance your fun, expectations and resources, you've got it made. Sound easy? It's not. It is a process which will help you get to know yourself and your family better.

Here are some tips to get you started and to trigger your own ideas:

Prioritize
Ask your loved ones what they really need from you and share with them what you need. As adults many of the things we do during the holiday season stem from responsibilities. We attempt to meet others' expectations. We also may be trying to fulfill our own unmet needs as children. Deciding what you would really like your holidays to look like can be very enlightening and rewarding. When you learn what the real needs and wants are, you and your family can prioritize together.

Share Tasks
This becomes much easier when other family members have had input into what is important. Now they can take on some of the tasks. Have a list of what the family has decided is important, talk about the steps to putting each thing together and get volunteers for the steps. The more children participate in making the holidays fun, the more meaningful holidays become for them and for you.

Use Common Sense
We may use the holidays and stress as an excuse for overindulging. The holidays are not a time to force yourself to stick to a strict diet (unless your health dictates you must) but you can use common sense. Eating some of everything you like can make you feel like you really participated. Alcohol is consumed in larger amounts during the holidays. It can disrupt your normal sleep patterns, increase depression and interfere with medications you may be taking, making you feel off balance and stressed. Also, don't throw your exercise schedule out the window. Even a short walk can decrease stress.

Improvement can happen year by year. It doesn't have to happen all at once. You can have fun reaching your goal of a balanced holiday season.