7 Tips for Holiday Stress Management

Although the holidays can bring lots of fun, festivity, and warmth to our lives, things are not always merry and bright this time of year. For many people, the stress of the holidays can be too much to handle on their own.

If what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year is causing more stress than joy, it can help to know how you can manage holiday stress and get the most out of your holiday experience.

Why Do the Holidays Cause Stress and Anxiety

From Thanksgiving to Hannukah to Christmas, this time of year brings many ways to celebrate and spread joy with your loved ones. Of course, the holidays, despite their festive spirit, can be a surprisingly stressful time for many people.

There are many reasons why the holidays are stressful, including:

• Financial pressures: The holidays often mean increased spending on gifts, decorations, travel, and food, putting a strain on budgets. This is especially true for those who are already struggling financially.
• Time constraints: With the holidays, many people find themselves facing longer to-do lists, including shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, and attending social events. This, combined with the traveling and family expectations of this time of year, these time constraints can take a serious toll.
• Emotional expectations: The holidays can often bring a need for perfectionism and emotional presence, which can be difficult for those who are struggling with other issues, whether this be anxiety, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or other emotional difficulties.

With so many ways to experience stress during the holiday season, it can feel impossible to handle all of these seasonal expectations on our own. This can lead to serious stress and anxiety, which can be problematic if not handled properly.

The Unhealthy Ways We Deal With Stress

When faced with stressful situations, such as the holidays, our bodies are sent into fight-or-flight mode. This is when the brain starts releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which send the body into a hyper-aware and high-stress state of being.

While this response is essential for survival in the short term, chronic stress can wreak havoc on our physical and mental health. Unfortunately, many of us turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms in an attempt to manage this stress, creating a cycle of negativity and further exacerbating the problem.

Some of the most common unhealthy coping mechanisms people may turn to include:

• Substance Use: Alcohol, illicit drugs, prescription medications, and even over-the-counter drugs like sleeping pills can all be used to numb stress temporarily. However, repeated use over time can also lead to addiction, dependence, and dangerous side effects.
• Unhealthy Eating: This can include binge eating, which is when someone eats excessive amounts of usually unhealthy foods for comfort, which can lead to weight gain and other health problems, as well as undereating where they are not getting the sustenance they need to function properly.
• Isolation: Many people who are struggling with stress may withdraw from their friends and family, as well as ignore their responsibilities as a means of coping; of course, this only makes their problems harder to solve in the future.
• Negative Self-Talk: When we are stressed out, it is easy to blame and talk down to ourselves, as well as start catastrophizing the situation and making our problems seem way worse than they truly are.

These are just some of the many unhealthy ways we deal with stress, each of which often makes our situations far worse than they were originally. If you find yourself relying on these coping mechanisms, it is important to seek healthier alternatives.