Stress/Anxiety
How To Reduce Holiday Stress
3 Steps To enjoy The Holidays
If your wanting to learn how to reduce holiday stress, you are not alone. They say it is a time of joy, laughter, and thankfulness. Then why do so many of us approach the holidays with fear, anxiety, and remorse. Follow along as we learn together how to reduce holiday stress.
First things first! Before we learn how to reduce holiday stress, we need to learn where our stress is coming from. Avoiding our problem will not make it go away. We may get really good at ignoring it, but the truth is that it still is effecting the way we act and react. The sooner we face our problems, the sooner we can begin to solve and resolve them.
At first, this may not feel good. We are essentially asking ourselves to face the problem that we found necessary to avoid in the first place. It will be worth in the long run however. Trading temporary discomfort for long term satisfaction is a great deal!
For many people it may be an argument that we had with family. For some, it may be the realization that we aren’t with family. Are you already struggling financially? If so, the added expense of the holidays will not help. There are many possibilities as to what your true problem is and maybe you need the help of a therapist to discover it. All of these problems follow the same faulty thinking over.
Aligning Our Expectations With Our Reality
This is the 2nd part of learning how to reduce holiday stress. Once we determine, what our true problem is we can begin fixing it. There are two ways we can align our expectations with our realities. We can either adjust our expectations or our realities. Are we, or is life being unfair?
If we are being unfair, it means we are setting to high of an expectation. Are we asking someone to get over something that we haven’t processed correctly? If so, we can approach them with love and ask how we can help. When life is being unfair, we have to work level the playing field. Did we have unexpected expenses that are preventing us from making the purchases we desire? If so, now is the time to create a budget. Our expectations will not align themselves. We need to put in the work to make them harmonious with our realities.
Enjoy Your Holiday!
The last step often seems like the most obvious. Enjoy your holiday! What does this truly mean however? Now that we have discovered and resolved our problem, our job is to truly understand what this holiday is about. Whether our holiday holds religious significance, is about being grateful, or just about having fun, we need to make this our focus. Our problem is no longer allowed to get in the way of our celebration. Spend some time truly understanding the purpose of your holiday and commit yourself mentally to experiencing it. Don’t just have a holiday, truly become a part of it.
Important Tips To Remember
- The holiday is not really your problem
- Discover what your problem really is
- Align your expectations with your reality
- Discover what your holiday is really about
- Really celebrate and enjoy your holiday
We’d love to hear from you. Comment your thoughts or feelings below on How To Reduce Holiday Stress. Be a part of our community. If your too uncomfortable for that at the moment but would still like to talk, reach out to us at Info@GrowAgainCounseling.com
By: Jordan Joachim
Contact Us
Email:
Info@GrowAgainCounseling.com