Holiday Stress Part #2

Holiday Stress Part #2

Holiday perfectionism is one of the main causes of holiday stress. We want things to be perfect for our loved ones and for ourselves. They (and we) deserve the best, right? We have the best of intentions we think. But whether it’s due to the impossible standards of holiday bliss sold to us by various marketing campaigns, to the exaggerated memories of holiday greatness that we’re trying to match (or outdo) from our own childhoods, or simply our regular-life perfectionism carried over and applied to the holidays, holiday perfectionism is all too common.

· I would like to give you some examples of Holiday Perfectionism, you might be dealing with see if this fits you or you might know someone that shows signs of Holiday Perfectionism. I found these examples:

· Every gift must be hand-made—and you’re not even enjoying the process!

· The holiday card is two pages, single-spaced, and includes every detail of your year—along with a hand-written note for each person on your 100-address list. (And each address is hand-written on the envelope!)

· You spend an entire day on the holiday meal, and can’t enjoy it because you worry that your recipes aren’t elaborate enough.

· You’re procrastinating on major activities because you want to do an amazing job, but don’t have the time to give an activity the attention you feel it deserves. The activity goes undone, and you beat yourself up over it.

· The kids look exhausted and stressed early in December because it’s all just too much!

· You’re doing many, many things to celebrate the holidays, and aren’t enjoying most of them because you feel that your efforts aren’t good enough.

You might try to Change Your Expectations for Togetherness:

With your family and friends, it’s important to be aware of your limitations. Think back to previous years and try to pinpoint how much togetherness you and your family can take before feeling negative stress. Ask yourself can you limit the number of parties you attend or throw, or the time you spend at each? Ask yourself can you limit your time with family to a smaller timeframe that will still feel special and joyous, without draining you?

Also, when dealing with difficult relatives, it’s okay to set limits on what you are and are not willing to do, including forgoing your visits or limiting them to every other year. Will do a lot for you and be a great help for your health during the season.

For those who experience loneliness during the holidays, consider inviting a group of friends to your home. If virtually everyone you know is with family during the holidays, you might consider volunteering to help those less fortunate than yourself. Many people report these experiences to be extremely fulfilling, and your focus will be on what you have rather than what you lack.

One of the easiest things to try to relieve stress this time of year is to just step back and take a "BREATHER" for a few seconds. This sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes we forget to take deep breaths and really give our bodies the oxygen we need. It's great if you can take ten minutes by yourself to do a breathing meditation exercise, just

merely stopping to take a few deep, cleansing breaths can reduce your level of negative stress in a matter of minutes, too. If you visualize that you are breathing in serenity and breathing out stress, you will find the positive effects of this exercise to be even more pronounced. This is so easy to do if we just would do it we will feel better and things will turn out for the good this holiday season.