01
Dec

Avoid Stress This Holiday Season

Sing it Loud and Clear – It’s the most Stressful Time of the Year!

WooHoo!  It’s December…only 25 days left.  No more counting weeks before Christmas, we are down to counting the days.  I’m hearing the overwhelm and stress every day.  While at a meeting yesterday, someone said….”I just have to get through this weekend, then I’ll be ok.  So much has been added to our already busy schedule.  It’s time to send out Christmas cards, finish shopping, attend recitals and all of the holiday parties along with maintaining everything that is already in our schedule (running a business, maintaining a home and getting dinner on the table every night.

Here are my tips!

1.  AVOID GETTING OVERWHELMED

Whenever you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, STOP and step away from the situation.  Turn around, walk away, step back and take a deep breath.  It is almost guaranteed that something will happen that will throw a wrench into your plans, so stay in control of your actions and reactions to a situation.

2.  FIND A WAY TO RELEASE YOUR STRESS

Count to 10 – slowly!  Find a place that you can just let out a loud and annoying scream to let our your frustration or write down what is annoying you in a journal.  Remember, things that usually didn’t bother you before the holidays will probably be just enough to send you over the edge now that we are so close to Christmas.

To keep myself from reaching the point that stress sets in, I use a few drops of Lavendar Essential Oil on the back of my neck and my temples and after rubbing it into the palms of my hands, hold my hands up to my nose and breathe in really deep.  It is very relaxing and reliefs the stress almost immediately.

3.  BE WILLING TO BE FLEXIBLE

When you’re getting overwhelmed, be willing to change your plans. You don’t have to do everything the exact same way every year.  As your family grows, sometimes it is necessary to change the way that you do things.  It is ok to change things up!  Maybe this year you don’t have the time to do all of your decorating at one time.  So don’t!  We brought our tree down from the attic right after Thanksgiving this year but it hasn’t been decorated yet.  It will be decorated this weekend when everyone is home and we can take the time to enjoy spending the time together and make it fun.  There isn’t enough time during the week to do it without causing stress so, we’ll adjust to make sure that we make sure we have fun and stay stress-free!

Stay stressed-free this Holiday season and take the time to enjoy the season.  Make memories that will last a lifetime!

Linda Clevenger

Organization Direct