Managing Holiday Stress

The holidays are upon us, for some of us this is exciting but for others, it can bring up many mixed emotions, including anxiety or depression. Perhaps the holidays serve as a reminder of people that are no longer with us, or the expectation of seeing family and getting sucked into old family conflicts from the past, whatever the reason, acknowledging your feelings and practicing self-compassion can be helpful.

What is self-compassion?

Self-compassion is treating ourselves with the same care and empathy that we would treat our loved ones.  Often times people will say, it’s easy for them to have compassion for others, but when it comes to themselves, they tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves or be very critical.

Ask yourself if on your hard days this holiday season you can respond to yourself like you would a friend that has had a difficult day. Providing support and recognizing that you are human after all.

Permission to change.

You may need to let go of some unrealistic expectations and give yourself permission to do things differently. If “we’ve just always done it like this”, feels stressful, try developing your own new rituals or traditions. It’s okay to change things up.

If you’re thinking changing things up may disappoint others, yes, this is a real possibility, but this is where tuning into your own limits can be helpful. Remembering what is most important for you during this holiday season can help you to tune out some of the noise.

Reach out.

If you are having difficulty tuning out the noise or need more help in learning how to do that. Feel free to reach out and contact me here to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.