Easy Steps to Make Your Holidays Less Stressful

As we officially enter the holiday season, anxiety can become palpable. Between changes in routine, visiting family or having them visit you, the holidays can be emotionally overwhelming and stressful for children and adults alike. Questions arise like “are we able to drive to see our aging parents? Can our adult children fly home for the holidays?” Or there are financial struggles that provoke questions like “how many presents can we afford under that tree this year?” and “can we even afford the tree?” Add in inclement weather, the desire for a perfect holiday, and you have a perfect cocktail for emotional meltdowns.

Consider these tips to help you and your family prepare for a less stressful holiday season.

Find Ways to Destress

When one member of the family is stressed, it becomes much easier for that stress to spread to other family members. This can throw off the rhythm of the holidays and infringe on the joy that is associated with this time of year. So, if family members are starting to get stressed, here are a few things that might help lower the stress quotient.

1. Throw on some music and have a dance party. Get all those stress wiggles out, take a movement break and have some fun.
2. If dancing isn’t your vibe, get some exercise by incorporating some simple yoga moves or stretches into your day to create mindful body movements. Or get outside and take the dog on a walk as nature can make your day better.
3. Start your day with a brief meditation or if you find yourself too stressed, take a few minutes of quiet to ground yourself. Either meditate on your own or listen to a guided meditation session such as “Headspace,” which offers a ten minute daily guided meditation.
4. Help your children create a list of calm-down techniques to choose from when they start to become overwhelmed or to use to reset after an outburst, such as taking a deep breath, or counting slowly to 10.
5. Take some time this holiday season to activate your right brain and spend it creating. This is another great way to check out from holiday stress. By creating, we can take our feelings and transform them into something else: something beautiful, moving or cathartic. And as an added bonus, you can use your creativity skills to make presents this holiday season.

Set Expectations for Family Greetings

Talk with your children about your family’s expectations around greetings and help them think of and practice different ways to say hello, such as a hug, handshake, high-five, a wave or a verbal greeting. Giving your children options ahead of time allows them to choose the greeting that feels most comfortable for them. Some kids are more open to physical greetings like hugs when others don’t like to touch people, especially those they may haven’t seen in a while. To lessen the pressure, make sure family members and friends understand what you and your children are comfortable with. For example, “It looks like they do not want a hug right now. Perhaps a high-five would be better.”

Connect and Acknowledge Emotions

Talk with your family about the range of emotions they could feel throughout the day. This can help everyone learn emotional literacy and flexible thinking. It also normalizes feelings. The range of holiday emotions is quite large, from overexuberant children to upset family members. Many of us have lost someone, and we miss them particularly around this sentimental season. When a big feeling does happen, remember to connect before you correct by labeling and validating family members’ emotions: “I can see that you’re really sad that grandpa isn’t here this year. Him not being here makes me feel sad, too. What would help you feel better?”

Reaching out to your loved ones can also help in these hard, emotionally charged times.  Don’t just text, pick up the phone and talk to loved ones. The conversation might not be riveting, but just the same, call your friends. Call your aunt. Call your grandparents. Connect with loved ones on the holidays and acknowledge lost relatives and feelings surrounding these important people in your life. Feeling these feelings instead of ignoring them will make your holiday overall more genuine and less stressful.

Take some of these steps into consideration when preparing for this holiday season to avoid extra stress. The holidays don’t have to be stressful and are a time for relaxation and joy. For now, enjoy the twinkling lights adorning the town and other beautiful decorations. Take care and enjoy this time with your loved ones, as we are so lucky to be able to spend this time with the people we love. Happy Holidays!