Christmas is a time of love, peace, family, understanding, illusion and magic. But we would need even more magic to survive many of the stressful Christmas situations, wouldn’t we? The bright side of Christmas is as true as its darker side in which we find stress, anxiety and depression.
In this article, we focus on Christmas stress and how to deal with it because anxiety and depression are more delicate disorders that, in addition to requiring specialized help, also take time. And we ran out of time because Christmas is upon us and we start to stress out due to the amount of pending issues.
Where to spend Christmas, how to distribute yourself on each special date, plan the menus, buy gifts, attend social commitments, the company dinner, the children on vacation and you working… Not to mention the stress caused by the wave of emotions that they jump in the middle of Christmas because of family conflicts, because of absences, because of that mismatch between what you think is an ideal Christmas and what it really is. Christmas is a time full of stressful situations, but that does not mean that you cannot face them successfully.
5 situations that cause a lot of stress at Christmas: how to manage them
1 Stress-Free Christmas Social Engagements
How many of those Christmas socials do you really want to attend? Maybe you really want to get together with all the cousins and reminisce about your childhood summers, but maybe the high school alumni dinner is not the most appetizing proposition. Here everyone chooses, what is certain is that at Christmas you get some of the most curious proposals.
And you can’t be everywhere. Because you have other priorities or because you don’t feel like it. Because you have another event at the same time or because you prefer to take the opportunity to be alone for a while and recover your strength, which you will need. Before you start getting overwhelmed by all the Christmas events and social engagements, convince yourself of the benefits of learning to say no.
You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. So make a list of all the proposals you have and select the priorities. We advise you to establish priorities based on what you feel like doing instead of letting yourself be carried away by social pressure and what you consider obligatory. From time to time you have to break the rules.
2 A quiet company dinner at Christmas
Should we go yes or yes to the company Christmas dinner? The question comes to mind every Christmas. What happens if I don’t go? Unfortunately, in most cases this Christmas event is impossible to avoid. So go. Go to dinner with your colleagues smiling and stoically endure the thanks of your boss.
But to reduce the stress of Christmas dinner at work, consider not being there all the time. Lie if necessary, that these things need drastic measures and not always ethical. And try to stop by just to say hello instead of swallowing the whole event. If you go to have a drink with them before dinner, it counts as a fulfilled commitment.
3 Family at Christmas
Oh, how beautiful the family Christmas scenes are in the movies and how different everything is in real life, right? We are not going to point to anyone, that the brothers-in-law already have enough with their own, but those discussions about politics to see who can shout the loudest and those past grudges that come to light between shrimp and shrimp are not the best for your stress.
And you can’t avoid it because this depends on other people, what you can do is not get into any discussion with your brother-in-law or your mother-in-law’s hints. Do not go in, you are at Christmas, you are having dinner, you are smiling but you are also looking at the scene from outside, arm yourself with emotional distance and think about your things if necessary. Arguments are not going to affect you this Christmas.
If you have practice in Mindfulness, if you ever do breathing exercises or know relaxation techniques, increase the dose at Christmas. After all, the Christmas spirit is also recollection, no one says that you cannot withdraw inside yourself for a few minutes in the middle of Christmas Eve dinner.
4 How to organize with the children at Christmas?
Children’s Christmas holidays are a major source of stress. Because they don’t have to go to class, but you do have to go to work. Because they are on vacation and with the greatest enthusiasm to enjoy Christmas and all the activities that take place in the city, but you cannot take them to everything.
This depends on each family, of course, but it is advisable to make an extra effort so that the little ones enjoy Christmas in a big way. If you are not going to be able to take care of it yourself, you can always ask the family for help and leave the children with the grandparents or uncles all vacations. You can also provide them with play material so they can have fun at home and something fundamental that all families run away from: boredom. Do your children know how to get bored? It’s time to discover the benefits of doing nothing.
5 Gifts for all
If there is something that likes and stresses in equal parts, it is Christmas shopping. Gifts, gifts for everyone, for everyone? But it is that this year you are not at your best moment and it is difficult for you to make ends meet. You will not be able to buy gifts for everyone and you do not know how to do it. Nights can become hell trying to find a solution, make the numbers fit and balance the accounts.
Surely you are not the only person in the family who is experiencing financial difficulties. So everything is to talk about it and raise it beforehand. How can we reduce Christmas expenses? The invisible friend is the perfect solution for the whole family to have their Christmas present without breaking the bank. And, of course, the host house that brings you all together does not have to take care of all the expenses of the Christmas Eve dinner, the Christmas lunch or the New Year’s Eve party.
Stress is still an excess and all excess is combated with balance. Find that balance between what you want to do and what you think you should do, between what you would like and what really is. Find the balance between what others want and what you want, because it is also you’re Christmas and you have the right to enjoy it without stress, without nerves and without anxiety.
