Last Minute Holiday Stress Relief Tips

The holiday season is in full swing and chances are, so are your stress levels. It’s challenging enough to take care of daily responsibilities without adding anything extra to do. Throw in changing, often inclement weather, and a few emotion packed traditions and it's no wonder the holidays bring additional stress to many. Trying to fit in more time for shopping, wrapping, decorating, cooking, planning, partying and traveling can be very stressful. We run around frantically with a sense of not having enough time, resources, or relationships, with which to enjoy the holiday season. By the time the holidays are over, we are frazzled and completely stressed out.

So now is the time to define the experience you want to have this holiday season. Keep it in front of you and stay true to yourself. If the holidays are a special time for you, then you will need to reprioritize your activities in order to clear time to enjoy holiday-related activities.

Learn to say no when necessary. Maybe you will want to say no to anything that doesn't directly produce money or express holiday activity. Say no to meetings that aren't holiday celebrations. Say no to requests that could be done after the holidays. Say no to the routines that don't add to or support your holiday experience.

It is most important during this time to take good care of yourself. Do some type of pleasurable exercise everyday. This is the number one way to relieve stress and tension and an added bonus is that it gets you away from the stressful situations for awhile.

Wake up 15 to 20 minutes earlier than normal and give yourself a few precious moments before you head into your day. Use this time just for yourself. Meditate, stretch, write in your journal, give yourself a foot bath or foot massage. Pamper yourself and you will feel more like pampering others.

Get some fresh air daily and eat good healthy foods and drink plenty of water. We aren’t as thirsty in cooler weather but it is so important to drink a lot of water every day to flush out toxins, hydrate the skin and aid our digestion.

While doing chores like wrapping presents and writing cards, turn on some soothing music and put your favorite essential oil blend in the diffuser. This makes the chores seem less like work and more like fun.

A lot of people dread the holidays because their inner experience is so different from what is being hyped all around us. Holidays can be hard on our emotions. Tune out the hype and stay tuned in to who you are. Adopt an attitude that no matter how things go, you will make the best of whatever happens. We need to remember to enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

If you drink alcohol, do so moderately. Drinking excessively can cause additional stresses like offending those around you, physical dehydration, unpleasant hangovers and unsafe driving.

It is also important during this time to get enough sleep. With all there is to do, the parties, the preparations, the shopping, the wrapping, and the cooking, it is easy to pay for the additional time required with our sleep time. The problem for many is that when they don’t get enough sleep, they get cranky and don’t enjoy what they are doing as much. And others may not enjoy being around them much either!

Don’t forget to laugh!! Laugh out loud every day. Don’t take it all so seriously.

Keep in mind that the holidays will be over soon regardless of how we handle them so why not just laugh and be happy! A bright new year is just around the corner. Happy Holidays to All!

Susan Stewart, http://itsmynature.net (source: naturalhealthweb)

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