Holidays and Family: How to Navigate and Survive.
Whether you are the one hosting or the one visiting dealing with the holidays and family can seem like a vast ocean and you are in a life boat. There are many different ways which families handle this vast ocean, some of these ways are healthy, some not so much. Here are three (3) Healthy Ways to deal with the holidays and all the visiting and stress!
1. Take your time this season.
Everyone is in a hurry during this time of the year. Everyone has to have the best Thanksgiving dinner ever, They have to find the best presents and they have to get everywhere as quick as possible. This particular practice brings on stress and anxiety in everyone. So take your time. A few tips to making the slow down this year are; Make plans with the different families to have dinner on different days. In our Family there is never Thanksgiving or Christmas on the actual day. This helps to get everyone covered. So Christian and I do Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving just us. Then we hit my Mom's on Saturday after. This is also done with Christmas. It leaves time in there to go to Christian's family as well. Next tip to slow it down this year. Stay AWAY from BLACK FRIDAY! I know this is when all the "REALLY GOOD" deals are out, but it is also the one day a year where there are more injuries than 4th of July. People are in too much of a rush to get from store to store and they are cranky and this just adds to stress and anxiety. You can most of the time get the very same deals from your computer screen and sometimes better deals! So Stay in your PJ's, grab your coffee, and hit the web store sales! Final slow down tip! make sure you take time for yourself. Five to ten minutes a day just for you can do a whole lot for your stress and anxiety levels. Read a chapter in your favorite book, watch a YouTube Show from your favorite YouTuber, take a bubble bath, but do something for yourself everyday for five to ten minutes.
2. Have a Plan!
While you are preparing for all this wonderful fun this year make a plan! This can include the tip from above about scheduling where and when with family to do dinner, but should also include your plan for travel time, shopping, and setting spending limits. This plan should fit the needs of you and your family but should also be stuck to as much as possible. Having a clearly defined plan will allow you to be aware of what needs to be done, reduce stress, and helps everyone understand what will be going on this season.
Most plans are not to involved they are very much like an outlined itinerary. They will include times of departure for family gatherings, (or time of arrival if you are hosting) What you need to take with you, your driving route, and a rough time as to when you want to leave and head to the next gathering or home. Your gift purchasing plan will have a list of people you are purchasing for, the amount you can afford to spend on each person, and stores where you will find these gifts. (Pro-Tip - you should have at least three stores per gift picked out. This will increase your chances of finding the gift you want to give!) the gift plan should also have clearly defined shopping days listed. Try to makes these days where the stores are not as full. Best days are generally Tuesday and Thursday. Most stores restock on these days because they are not as busy. Therefore, you may be able to find that hard to find gift pretty quickly because they just filled the shelf again!
3. Stop making commitments you can't keep
This one seems pretty self explanatory however what about making commitments to yourself? We always make commitments to ourselves this time of year. This is when we all start thinking about New Year's Resolutions. When you are making these commitments to yourself remember to be kind like you would be with someone else. Set goals you can achieve, set short term goals and long term goals. The short term should be a means to getting to the long term goals. Such as; Long Term Goal: I want to lose 100 Pounds this year. Short term goals should be like this: Get Gym Membership, Go to the Gym at least once a week, Eat less fast food, drink one smoothie a week at least, change one meal a day to something healthier, etc. Setting these little goals will get you to your larger goal and make it something you will attain. Setting commitments like this will help keep the stress away because you are taking it in small bites.
So remember this year during the busy holiday season slow down, make a plan, and make commitments you can keep to yourself. These three tips will keep you from stressing out this year!