A Holiday Season without Holiday Stress
How to sail through the season stress-free
By Polly Campbell
It’s time for a fresh approach to the holidays. We’ve cooked up a plan that preserves the joy and prevents the hassles. You’ll see it is possible to have turkey without turmoil and parties without panic. Whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa you’re celebrating, put your health and your sanity first. Make your holiday meaningful, not stressful. Here’s how.
Keep it Simple and Sweet
Before you rev up for this year’s holiday festivities, think back to last year. Perhaps you relished opening your boxes of ornaments, loved seeing family you hadn’t seen all year, and were gratified when everyone raved about the meal. In so many ways, this really is the most wonderful time of the year.
But do you also remember pushing against fatigue as the big day grew near, the spare chairs that had to be dragged up from the basement, and the mountain of gifts that had to be wrapped?
If it’s fair to say that your holiday joy is typically tempered with weariness, stress and even pain, it’s time to rethink your approach – and now’s the perfect time.
The Challenge to Change
People often feel compelled to do more than they can handle, and they rarely realize that, ultimately, their health suffers. “Pain can be exacerbated by an overload of so much to do around the holidays,” says Nisha Manek, MD, a rheumatologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
We are held hostage by our childhood memories or the idyllic images we hold about what the holidays are supposed to be, says Gary Hansen, a family sociologist from the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
“And if we can’t live up to that ideal, we interpret that as a shortcoming,” Hansen says. “We feel guilty when we aren’t doing what our parents did.”
Start Your ‘New Year’ Now
Change begins with personal reflection and honest self-evaluation, says Jean Coppock Staeheli, co-author of Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season (William Morrow and Co., 1981).
“Family traditions give us a sense of continuity and a chance to remember fond times in the past,” Hansen says. “But you can always modify or adapt them.”
Ready to give it a go? Follow these steps:
1. Make a commitment to change. Know that you really can create a meaningful holiday and replace unrealistic expectations and goals with those that are more practical.
2. Decide what matters. “Compare what is important with what you are actually doing,” Coppock Staeheli says. Do you want to preserve some traditions for the sake of your children? Reconnect with old friends? Perhaps attending religious services is high on your list. You might find writing in your journal helps with this process.
3. Start small. Identify subtle changes that will help preserve the things you value the most while reducing your workload and stress. Those subtle changes can mean big relief.
Go to Be Willing to Bend
