Don't Punch Santa! Decrease Holiday Stress And Enjoy The Holidays
Have you ever wanted to punch Santa right in the nose? Toss the menorah out the window and return all of the Kwanzaa Zawadi (gifts)?
These last six weeks of the year can be the most stressful time of the year for so many people for so many reasons.
And it’s interesting that it really should be the best time of the year. In fact, there's even a song that claims that it's the ‘most wonderful time of the year’.
There are a great many articles on how to beat holiday stress, and you’ll see people searching for ‘how can I enjoy the holidays more?’ You'll find lots of lists out there with great advice.
You'll see things like, lower your expectations, don't overspend, take time for yourselves, try to feel gratitude, etc. The problem is, it's not simply a matter of just knowing what to do, it's knowing how to do it.
Now, because I'm a hypnotist I'm going to recommend that you all get hypnosis to beat holiday stress and live happily ever after lol. And for those of you that aren't quite ready for that, I'm going to give you some other tips to help you really enjoy the holidays and let go of stress and anxiety around the holidays.
My first recommendation to feel less stressed, really at any time is to use a technique called reframing. Reframing really just means looking at something in a different way and we use it often as hypnotherapists and NLP practitioners.
I was teaching a class on stress one time and talking about this very topic explaining that sometimes something that seems stressful to one person can be non-stressful or even awesome to another.
I gave an example of myself and how I used to get unbelievably stressed out in traffic, I mean unbelievably stressed! I had a friend who never seemed to get stressed out in traffic. She would just calmly cruise along even in the worst Seattle traffic.
I would get stressed out just looking at her being calm! I've gotten better now, mostly just because I try to leave earlier. That really does work.
Anyway, while teaching the stress class that day a man raised his hand to tell us of his experience in reframing - essentially seeing the positive in a potentially negative experience. He said that he'd gotten laid off from his job awhile back which at first had seemed like a horrible thing and had, of course, caused him a lot of stress. He said, that he then looked over his finances and decided that he could actually go ahead and retire now. He was delighted!
There is a great quote from Shakespeare that says, 'There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so'.
With this in mind, how can you reframe those things that are causing you stress? I’ll be doing a demo soon which will demonstrate how one might do this.
The thing that always caused me the most stress during the holidays was not being able to afford to buy all of the things that I wanted to buy. I mean, sometimes it's tough enough to get through the rest of the year financially and then you add on the burden of buying gifts too!? That can be a real challenge. I decided that I needed to scale back my financial expenses at the holidays.
I finally talked with some friends and family members and just told them that I would prefer that they focused their monetary gifts on others and that I would rather have something homemade, a small gift to charity in my name, or a voucher for a shared experience. everyone that I talk to was amenable to it and some even expressed that they were glad for the idea.
Something else that can help decrease stress and anxiety during the holidays and at any time during the year is breathing. And it seems so simple that many people don't even try it. But intentionally breathing in different ways can have a powerful and profound impact on your stress levels and overall well-being.. Have you noticed, that when you're stressed or anxious you're breathing usually becomes faster and more shallow? Because psychology follows physiology and vice versa, you can influence how you feel emotionally and mentally by the way that you move and breathe.
It can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths, ideally exhaling slower than you inhale. You could also try box breathing which most people find very effective. Tap HERE to watch a video that will help you do it. if you want to dive in more deeply into various breathing practices look up pranayama an Indian system of breathing techniques related to yoga.
When you’re able to take control and manage your stress levels not only will you be able to enjoy the holidays more but you’ll likely make better choices about what you eat and drink as well.
I tell my hypnotherapy clients that ‘Stress is the root of all evil’ because it can make us eat more (and unhealthier), drink more (alcohol), smoke more (if we’re a smoker), and kick the dog more (be grumpy and irritable).
So managing stress will help you to lose weight, quit drinking alcohol, stop smoking, and feel calmer and be nicer. Decreasing stress is a very worthy goal for all of us!
How to beat holiday stress;
• Reframe the situation. Try to look at the experience from another angle and or just try to find the positive in it.
• Scale back expenses and other expectations.
• Breathe intentionally.
• Use Hypnosis - of course! :)
Want more help managing holiday stress so you can enjoy the holidays more?
Book a private hypnotherapy session with me by tapping HERE or grab my ‘Decrease Stress And Enjoy The Holidays’ mp3 download at a special price by tapping HERE.
