5 Ways to Handle Holiday Stress

The holidays are a wonderful time of year, but they can also be stressful. If you plan ahead, you can manage your holiday stress and enjoy the celebration of Christ’s birth as well as time with loved ones.

5 Ways to Handle Holiday Stress

Here are five ways to handle holiday stress that you can start using today:

1. Prioritize Your Health

Many people get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and put their health on the back burner. However, if you do this, your stress level can increase, and you may enjoy the holidays less. You could also become more vulnerable to viruses and sickness during the holidays if you fail to protect your health.

You’ve heard the guidelines: Eat right, exercise, and get plenty of water and rest. These are important priorities during the holidays. But prioritizing your health goes beyond working to preserve your physical health. You also need to preserve your mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

What activities drain your mental reserves? Which activities stir up negative emotions? What distractions get in the way of your faith? These elements need to be eliminated as much as possible during the holiday season.

On the other hand, choose activities to build up those areas. Read books or do crossword puzzles to destress mentally. Connect with a godly friend and practice self-care for a boost in emotional health. Read your Bible daily and observe the Sabbath to grow spiritually during the holidays. By being intentional in these four areas of health – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual – you’ll have greater peace this holiday.

2. Learn to Say “No”

Many of us face additional stress during the holiday season when we say Yes to everything. “Yes” to baking all the cookies, decorating all the trees, cooking a fancy dinner, wrapping all the presents, etc. “Yes” to all the holiday activities in your family and at school, church, and work. Too many Yes answers can produce a huge load of stress.

It helps to list out all the holiday activities that you both need to do and want to do. Then you can compare that list with the time you have available. If there is a time deficit, you’ll have to say No to some of the “wants” and focus on saying Yes to the “needs.” Remember to budget time to rest and replenish yourself, so you aren’t staying up late to complete tasks on your too-full Yes list.

For example, if you need to attend your son’s Christmas concert, it may be wise to make that your only Yes of the day. If you pack two or three more activities into that day, you’re guaranteed to experience stress. The little word No is a powerful protector of your stress load. Learn to say No to additional strains on your schedule, and you’ll enjoy the Yes decisions even more.

3. Manage Your Expectations

Expectations tend to run high during the holidays. You may wish for an ideal, Norman-Rockwell painting Christmas dinner, with perfect food and perfect guests, but for most of us, this doesn’t happen, and high expectations can cause greater stress.

You may have heard that the distance between reality and disappointment is your level of expectation. The wider the gap, the greater the disappointment. If you adjust your expectations, you can minimize disappointment and thereby manage stress.

Suppose your adult son who is newly married chooses to spend Christmas only with his in-laws this year. Certainly, you may feel some disappointment over not getting to see your son at Christmas like you usually do. But you have a choice.

You can adjust your expectations, wishing him well, and making other plans for your own celebration. Conversely, you can stew on the problem and worry that your Christmas will be ruined, which ups your stress level. The choice you make about expectations determines how stressed out you feel.

With so many varying factors playing into the holiday season, inevitably, something won’t go exactly right. When you let go of high expectations and embrace the beauty of imperfection, you will have greater peace this holiday season.

4. Deepen Your Prayer Life

When you face holiday stress, what do you typically turn to first? Many of us turn to social media, food, alcohol, shopping, or other things to feel better when stressed. But this often backfires, making us feel more anxious rather than more at peace.

This season consider turning to God first in prayer when you are stressed. Pour out your heart to him in prayer. Remember, he can handle everything you say. You don’t have to edit your prayers to Him or worry about hurting His feelings. The more honest your prayer, the more God will help you.

He will help you sort out your fears and feelings and give you the peace that passes all understanding. Train yourself to recognize your stress triggers and pray immediately. For example, if you typically reach for chocolate when you experience stress, cry out to God, instead.

Say something like this: “Lord, I want to turn to you first for comfort, not to chocolate. Help me take comfort in your presence.” As you repeat this again and again, your prayer life will deepen, and your stress will decrease.

5. Meditate on God’s Word

Many of us get stuck in loops of negative thinking during the holidays. Maybe you think, “Nothing I do is ever enough” or “Does anything I do really matter?” Perhaps you have negative thought patterns about family members, gift-giving, or other aspects of the holiday that drag you down. These harmful thought patterns only add to holiday stress and must be addressed.

You can replace negative thinking with the truth of God’s Word through Christian meditation. Go online and search for Bible verses on peace. Pick a few of your favorites and write them down on sticky notes or 3 x 5 cards and keep them with you or keep them in the Notes section of your phone.

When you are triggered with negative thoughts, bring these verses to the forefront of your mind. Read them, say them out loud, and display them. You can retrain your brain on a different path by meditating on God’s Word.

For example, you may think, “I have so much on my to-do list; I’ll never get it all done.” When a thought like this occurs, you can counter it with the truth of God’s Word. You can remind yourself of the truth of Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Then turn it into a call for help via prayer. Repeating this practice throughout the holiday season will give you greater peace and strengthen your relationship with God.

Counseling for Holiday Stress

The tips above can help you manage most stressful holiday situations. But what if you aren’t able to manage your stress with tips like these? If you are overwhelmed by stress, experiencing debilitating anxiety, or not able to handle your daily responsibilities, it may be time to get help from a caring counselor.

Often our stress points come from unresolved hurts in the past. Perhaps you are dealing with unhealed trauma, and it’s affecting your ability to cope. Maybe grief or severe family problems are affecting your ability to get through the holidays. A compassionate counselor can help you dig into the deep reasons for your stress and handle it from the root.

By scheduling a few counseling sessions during the holiday season, you can gain an objective viewpoint of your situation, plus practical help for stress management and relationships. Give us a call at Lake Forest Christian Counseling to set up your appointments today. We are here to help you manage holiday stress as well as encourage you in your Christian faith.