During the holidays stress is more common than ever, and it’s no surprise at all. The festive season presents a dizzying array of demands: cooking, shopping, baking, cleaning, and entertaining, to name a few. It’s understandable why you’re not feeling so wonderful during the most festive season of the year.
Does the holiday rush also make you feel antsy? Does it affect your actions? Does thinking about seeing your family make you experience temporary anxiety, stress, or sadness?
Maybe you’ve had a traumatic childhood, and seeing your family stirs up unwanted visitors – stress and sadness. Or perhaps you’re the only one in the family who’s expected to plan the celebration, shop, and do all the dirty work. Maybe, you can’t help but overspend on gifts. These are all reasons you might feel stressed out as the holiday approaches.
If you think these things, there’s good news for you. Stress isn’t bad. You can be stressed out during the holidays but still feel joy.
Here are some ways you can enjoy the festive season when you are stressed out:
- Be Honest With Yourself: Are you the kind of holiday shopper who postpones everything until the very last minute? If you are, then you know it’s stressful. You even forget why you’re buying gifts. But you don’t need to do that. The most important thing you can do is be truthful with yourself and do something because of the meaning of the holidays – buying a gift, enjoying the moment of envisioning the person you’re buying a gift for, and thinking about how they’ll experience your love through it.
- Be Accepting: If you had an unresolved problem with your family, it might be hard to have a good time with them during the holidays. If you have some expectations that things will change for you, you won’t have fun. So when you see your family again, be open to whatever they’re doing to enjoy. Accept whoever they are. This can be your way of showing your love and genuine mind.
- Count Your Blessings: There’s no growth or discovery within yourself if you keep thinking of the past. But, there is in counting your blessings every day. Even though you may be in a tough spot in life, and maybe you’re in pain, know that on the other side, there are beautiful things. There is always something to be celebrating and something to be grateful for.
- Move Your Body: We are all made up of energy. This energy can be stuck and cause stress, and the only way to release it is by moving the body. Moving your body with the help of qigong can be a solution for you if you feel stuffy or overwhelmed with many emotions.
As you think about what will happen during Christmas time with your family or with your friends, I hope you focus on these questions: “What can I give this holiday season? What can I do to make my heart happy by doing things for others without any expectations? What are the things that I am grateful for right now?”
