The festive season is fun and joyful, but it’s also highly stressful, especially when you are disorganized. Make sure you are prepared for the stresses of the season by reflecting on the situations that cause you the most stress and planning ahead to reduce the general effects.
Manage Family Stress
Stress is a common occurrence over the festive season; it seems to come from every direction. There is the stress of giving gifts, managing a busy work schedule, and managing family members with difficult personalities that can become more pronounced at this time of the year.
There are two ways to approach a stressful family member at Christmas, you can choose to attend the gathering and work with the stress you feel, or you can choose to avoid the event altogether; remember, it is your time, and you don’t have to justify how you use it or spend it.
If you decide to attend an event with a difficult family member, you need to resource yourself, so you are prepared. Adopt some breathing strategies that you can return to when things get stressful; also, remember that you can leave the room at any time to take your mind off them.
Movement Meditation
If you are feeling uninspired or you notice that you are stuck in the same thinking patterns a lot of the time, you need to get moving. Movement is a wonderful way to free up the mind and generate new thoughts and feelings about your life situation. Movement meditation is a controlled way of creating this inspiration; it involves walking, yoga, and group meditation.
Manage Social Pressures
There are a ton of social pressures when it gets to the end of the year, your friends, colleagues, and family members are all asking you to attend social events and gatherings, and you feel obliged to say yes. It is important to keep the importance of these gatherings in perspective.
It might be the end of the year, but it is a short year, and festive gatherings like this come around quite often; at the same time, you need to monitor your stress levels and look after your general health and wellness. Don’t commit to anything up front; give yourself some time to think it over.
Social pressure can be stressful and difficult to manage, so make sure you create a balance by making decisions based on personal wellbeing. Sometimes attending a social event can be challenging in a positive way; other times, the opposite; decide on ones that are worth the effort.
Avoid Festive Issues
Christmas time is a time of connection and jollity, but it’s also a time of overconsumption and overdrinking. The festive season has some of the highest rates of drink drive incidents worldwide due to gatherings and inattention. It’s important to avoid these common festive issues by planning your night carefully and monitoring your drinking; always have a cab number handy.
There is no need to drive if you don’t have to; instead, enjoy your evening and take a pre-booked cab home, avoiding any legal entanglements. If you are driving, make sure you understand the states drink drive laws to avoid DUI Felonies. A DUI felony carries a jail sentence, a hefty fine, and a black mark on your driving license; it’s not worth the risk.
Breathing Meditation
Another excellent and popular form of meditation is breathing meditation which is easy to use and very effective. No matter what life situation you find yourself in this winter, bring your attention to the breath and allow your mind to settle down. Remember, you don’t have to make any effort to breathe; your body is capable of breathing by itself, so simply monitor the action.
Avoid Work Stress
It’s coming to the end of the year, and you want to relax; you want to forget about your workload for a few weeks and reconnect with your friends and family members. In order to do this, you have some work to do first; you need to cram your pre-festive work into a few stressful weeks.
While it is worth attempting to get your work done on time a shut everything down for the holidays, it may not be necessary. Take a realistic look at your workload and communicate with your boss about how to divide the work into manageable chunks to be completed on time.
Stress is a toxic condition for anyone. When stressed, the brain releases adrenaline and cortisol that floods the system creating intense energy. These hormones are useful for escaping dangers, but when triggered regularly, they cause high blood pressure, heart disease, and more.
Improve Your Sleep
There are significant changes t a person’s sleep in the winter months, and if you are sensitive to light and temperature changes, you could find your sleep patterns disrupted. Proper sleep is very important for someone’s mental health, so make sure you can optimize your sleep health.
Circadian rhythms are the natural sleep-wake cycles of the brain that allow the body to recuperate and reset, but these rhythms are closely connected to the natural light levels. When natural light levels are lower, you might find your sleep, and mental health is out of balance.
There are a few things you can try to improve your sleeping habits and your mental wellbeing. First, try to get more vitamin D in your diet; this core vitamin has been shown to support sleep regulation; you might also try a daylight lamp that can boost melatonin and serotonin levels.
Reduce Alcohol
Alcohol is a depressant that affects the levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. When you first consume alcohol, you get a boost in these happy chemicals, but the next day you are deficient in them, and you can feel depressed. Feeling depressed is no fun, especially not in the winter, when it can be hard to stay happy in general. It’s better to maintain general wellness.
Make Reliable Plans
If you want to reduce your stress in all walks of life, make sure you make reliable plans ahead of time. When you don’t have a situation planned and organized, it creates uncertainty and stress when you have to think on your feet. Alternatively, you can have a range of options available at all times, so you feel more in control of the situation and reduce the chances of any mishaps.
There are two ways to plan things over the festive season; you can arrange a night out in advance and book the can service you need to get you to the event and home again; alternatively, you could think of a few options depending on how the evening unfolds, then you always have a means of getting back home in a safe a stressfree way that avoids drama.
Talking Therapy
Winter is a difficult time for many people; not only are the light levels and temperatures a challenge, but people have lost loved ones at this time of year, and the memories return. If you are feeling depressed this winter, don’t hesitate to reach out to a friend, family member, or a network one for help. There are many excellent free and paid talking therapies to contact.
Final Thoughts
Winter is a time of festivities and family, but it can also be challenging and stressful. Acknowledging the stresses of the winter season is the best way to manage them and come through the winter in a state of happiness and wellness. Follow the tips in the article for results.
