For many people, the holiday season is a time to be merry and have some fun with family and loved ones. The holidays can be a great time, but they can also comes with some level of stress, and possibly depression. This is because, during this time, you are faced with so many obligations such as preparing the house, shopping, and cooking for your guests, and so on, which can easily leave you feeling overwhelmed.
10 Ways to Have a Stress-Free Holiday
When you are stressed any number of health complications, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease may arise. Therefore, it’s important that you find proper and healthy ways to reduce stress this holiday season and avoid being the Grinch that stole Christmas.
Here are some of the top tips to reduce holiday stress and keep you merry:
1.   Plan Ahead
An easy way to have a stress-free holiday this season is to plan ahead. There are still a couple of weeks left before the actual holiday, so you have enough time to shop, bake, visit friends and so on. Splitting these activities into different days will prevent the holiday rush which can cause stress. Note: remember, it’s the holidays; build some fun into your plans!
2.   Decide on a Budget
Another tip to reduce stress this season is to set a budget and try as much as possible to stick to it. It is very easy to get stressed when you find out that you have spent more money than necessary when shopping for the holiday. You can get caught up in spending and over do it. Or forget to keep track of what you’ve spent and when you find out, it’s already too late. Therefore, you may want to create a budget to avoid such a scenario.
3.   Set Realistic Goals
Setting realistic goals this holiday can also help you avoid stress. It is important to understand that the goals you have in your head may be to elaborate to pull off or they may be stress induced goals such as trying to compete with the neighbors professional lighting job when you don’t have the money spend on lights or the time to spend putting them up.  So rather than being disappointed by putting too much on yourself, again choose to do what is necessary and what sounds fun to you. You will always have more energy and creativity when you are doing things you want to be doing.
4.   Practice Healthy Habits
You may want to try your hands at certain healthy habits this holiday. Apart from generally uplifting your mood, healthy habits such as physical activity like jogging and skipping, as well as eating healthy and getting enough sleep can help you cope with stress during the holiday season.
5.   Take Care of Yourself
The holidays can become so busy that you neglect to care of yourself, and thereby bringing your immune system down and then you get sick. The simple way to keep yourself healthy is to take little breaks and clear your mind. Maybe take to stroll, listen to music, or get a massage. When you give your mind a break from a topic, it has a chance to digest everything you have learned and help you create new thoughts and solutions. Leaving you feeling refreshed.
6.   Decline Politely
Learn how to politely decline holiday tasks/chores when your plate is full. When you accept more tasks than you can handle, you will end up feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Therefore, it is important that you learn how to say no, whether it is at your workplace or at home.
7.   Give Room for Individual Differences
Your holiday guests will have different personalities which may not gel with yours. Instead of getting yourself worked up, learn to accept the differences in their personalities. By accepting individual differences, your holiday is more likely to be free of drama.  And you may learn something new about Aunt Thelma you never knew before!
8.   Acknowledge Your Emotions
Certain holiday traditions may bring back painful memories such as the death of a loved one. When such a situation arises, you should acknowledge your emotions, rather than try to get rid of them. Sadness and grief are normal human emotions which should be expressed, even during the holidays. Allow yourself the time to feel the feelings and then take a moment alone and ask yourself “What was that telling me?” Find the positive learning from what you experienced…you will gain clarity and relief on the event.
9.   Talk to a Loved One
Talking to a family member or loved one when you feel down during the holidays can do a lot of good. Whenever you feel down, reach out to someone you trust and ask them if you can share something with them that’s important to you. Let them know that you chose them because you trust them and value their opinion. Your friends will be happy to listen and be there for you. We all enjoy helping our friends, that’s part of being a good friend; being there and supporting one another. Afterwards, you will notice that you feel lighter and relieved, which can be great for your wellbeing.
10.Get Help from a Professional
If after trying out all these tips, you still feel stressed out, anxious, sad or hopeless, you may want to get help from a mental health professional. A professional life coach or therapist, who is trained in issues affecting mental health can help you overcome the problem, allowing you to have a happy holiday.
The holiday season is meant to be stress-free and merry, if you need a little extra help schedule a free consultation with me and we will get you back into holiday spirit in flash!
Schedule Your Free Consultation today:Â http://masterthemasses.setmore.com
