Healthy Tips: Managing Holiday Stress

Hi, I'm Dave Roark with Owensboro Health. And I'm a mental health therapist located at the employee assistance program at the Healthpark. Now, today, we are going to share some healthy tips as far as managing holiday stress. Now, the holidays are completely upon us, and Christmas is approaching fast. So we're going to cover some things that are going to help reduce and cope with stress at the same time making the most of your holiday experience.

Plan and Manage Your Time

Tip number one is making sure to plan and manage your time. It's all too easy for us to get stretched too thin during the holidays. It's very important to be very mindful to map out your time and make sure that it's not just possible to do these things, but it's also healthy. Actually, taking a calendar and looking at it and seeing what you can do comfortably and enjoyably is a very good idea.

Financial Planning

Tip number two is financial planning. We all want to give as much as we can for the holidays. But sometimes, that causes a lot of undue stress upon us. Some things to remember for that is to plan ahead and budget out exactly how much you have to spend how much you can spend. And even looking throughout the years for the best deals and being able to spend a little bit each month as it goes along to prepare for the best Christmas experience for yourself and your loved ones.

Dealing with Feelings

Tip number three is a big one. It's making sure we deal with our feelings. Not only do we have holiday stress, but as great as the holidays can be, they can also be a big trigger for some of us with grief. This is a very important time to make sure that we are expressing our feelings, we're dealing with those, and we're maintaining our healthy habits that we do throughout the rest of the year. Too often, we say, well, I don't have time to keep doing those. Honestly, we don't have time not to do those. Keep your healthy habits, and be sure to express what you're going through with grief, stress, or other feelings.

Set Limits

Tip number four is one I struggle with myself personally. It's remembering to set limits. All too often, we stretch ourselves too thin, we try and do too much, and we're too hard on ourselves when we can't do everything. This is an important one to remind yourself of daily that all you can do is the best you can do. And also having a support system to help you remind you of that as well.

Enjoy Yourself

Tip number five is remembering to enjoy yourself. All too often, we get caught up, and we feel like we have to do and we lose sight of what the holidays are all about. Make the things that you feel like you need to do as a time of celebration. Make decorating and cooking with family members. Go out shopping, make it a day out. Do the things like that. Take things that could become a chore, make them a memory instead.

These are just five tips to help manage and reduce holiday stress. I hope they are of benefit. And I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. For more on this topic or additional resources, contact the Employee Assistance Program at 270-688-1547.