Stress Less About the Holidays!

When I was a small child, the holidays "magically" materialized on their given date.  There were homemade apple and pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving. Christmas morning brought presents wrapped with gorgeous bows and tags neatly displayed under the tree.  I awoke on Easter morning knowing that there would be beautifully colored eggs hidden all around my grandmother's house.  It went without saying that there would be a scrumptious meal at all holidays.

Now I have two small children of my own.  On Christmas Eve last year I was up at 12:30 AM, exhausted and still had a pile of unwrapped presents.  I had missed Christmas Eve at Church, a service that I love to attend. There were a big pile of dishes in the sink from the evening meal, and the thought of waking up to them was really depressing!  The last number of years of holidays have made me truly wonder how my grandmother pulled off all those Disney -like holiday celebrations.

Well, I know.  She planned. She organized.  She shopped early, wrapped early. She stayed up most of the night the eve before the holiday. She put all her energy into making the holidays special for her family.  From my child's mind perspective she seems to have enjoyed it.  As an adult, however, I wonder.  Was she stressed? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Depressed?

I don't know about my Grandmother, but many, many of the rest of us find the holidays to be overwhelming, anxiety producing, and downright depressing.  That's a tragedy, because the point of the holidays, which is to celebrate a meaningful event from the past, often at best gets minimized and at worst gets completely lost.

So I challenge you all, from this point forward, to make plans to minimize your holiday stress and anxiety and maximize your celebration, enjoyment, and relaxation. 

Most articles at this time of year will give you simple "tips" for handling holiday stress.  I'm going to take a slightly different approach and try to give you some exercises to try to help you think about handling the holidays with a slightly different perspective.  Lets talk about three stressful holiday topics:  Meals, People, and Things to Do.

The Meals

Depending on the person and the circumstances, the experience of cooking a holiday meal can range from a relaxing and enjoyable experience to an overwhelming, stressful and exhausting one! So, what should you do this holiday season?  Answer the following questions as honestly as you can:

1. How much do I enjoy cooking?  You can rate your answer on a scale of 0-10, where 0 means "absolutely not at all," and a 10 means "it's one of my favorite activities!"  Write your rank here:  _________
2. Now, think of one or two helpers that could be available to help you cook.  How much would you enjoy cooking with this person(s).  Re-rank your answer here: _______________
3. How stressed do I get when cooking this type of meal (0 means not at all, 10 is extremely stressed)? _____________

O.K., so if your answer to #1  or #2 is an "8" or above and your answer to question #3 is a "6" or below, here's my interpretation:  Cooking the holiday meal for you is highly enjoyable and your stress level is either moderate (5-6) or low (anything under 5).   Does that sound accurate?  If so, ask yourself, "Is this what I want to do?" If the answer is "yes," then go for it!