Tips for Stress Free Holidays!
The holidays have come around once again and it’s sure to be a time filled with friends, family, and loved ones. Unfortunately, stress is the uninvited guest that often shows up to the festivities, as well! This year, don’t let stress affect your cheer. Keep reading to take in our tips for stress free holidays!
How to Stay Stress Free During the Holidays
Holiday gatherings, visiting friends and family, work events, and more make for a festive season, but all that staying busy can add a lot of stress to your plate, too. You’re certainly not alone! In fact, research shows over 60% of Americans report feelings of stress being inflated during the holiday season, even in the mix of heightened joyful emotions.
This year, learn how to stay stress free during the holidays with these simple tips:
- Embrace the holiday chaos
- Practice mindfulness and gratitude
- Stay flexible
- Give yourself a break
- Unplug for a while
- Keep active and exercise
Bonus Tip: Already feeling some stress this season? Check out our guide to self-care routines for managing holiday stress after this!
Embrace the Holiday Chaos
The reality is no matter how much you plan, things can still happen that you weren’t expecting. While it’s great to have backup plans and to know how to pivot, one of the key stress free holiday tips on our list is to embrace the chaos. Know that some stress is going to sneak in and accept it instead of turning it into long-term stressful feelings.
Left unchecked, long-term stress affects the body in powerful ways. Short-term stress, however, comes and goes. If we learn to embrace the chaos with an open mind and know it will pass, we can cut the stress back to almost nothing this season.
Practice Mindfulness and Gratitude
Next on our list of tips for stress free holidays is to practice mindfulness and gratitude. Take in what you love about the holidays and pay special attention to what you’re thankful for, then forget the rest! When we practice mindfulness and gratitude, we refocus our thoughts and avoid a lot of unnecessary stress.
Take a little time each day to check in with your emotions or center your thoughts. This could be through calming breathing exercises, learning how to meditate at home, or journaling to get your thoughts out.
Another stress free holiday tip that follows these practices is to make mindful decisions. Be conscious of your choices and make the ones that are right for you because you want to, not because you feel obligated by external stimuli. When you’re living in the moment and cognizant of your choices, you’re more likely to be happy with the outcome and enjoy your stress free holidays!
Stay Flexible
Just like embracing the chaos, staying flexible is paramount for how to stay stress free during the holidays. Even the best laid plans may go awry, but instead of stressing about that, being flexible to pivot and embrace the change will keep your holidays stress free and enjoyable.
This also brings up the skill of learning how to say no during the holidays. Keeping flexible isn’t just about pivoting when something goes differently than planned, but also knowing when you’ve had enough or need some personal time to step back from the festivities and recharge.
Give Yourself a Break
Speaking of knowing when to step back, learning to give yourself a break is another important lesson on our list of tips for stress free holidays. This can mean a variety of things, however. Knowing when you need to take a break from the hustle and bustle to relax and recharge is important to your overall health and well-being. Simultaneously, it also means giving yourself a break if you stumble on different goals.
For example, the holiday season tends to put our health and wellness goals to the test. With all the festivities, you may find you’ve missed a couple of days at the gym or overindulged a little on the cookies. That’s okay! Instead of stressing over what’s done, reflect on how you were enjoying the moment and then make a plan to get back on track moving forward. Cutting yourself some slack goes a long way when aiming for stress free holidays.
Unplug During the Holidays
With all the hectic schedules you’re juggling, we know it’s important to stay connected to others and communicate the plans. That said, it’s also important to unplug and step away from the electronics for a bit during the holidays. You’d be surprised at how far this goes as a useful tip for stress free holidays!
Take some time each day to put away your phone, shut off the television, and simply be in the present. This goes perfectly with acts of mindfulness. One way to make sure you unplug each day is to make it part of a relaxing night time routine.
For example, turn off the television, put down your phone, and sit back in your zero gravity chair to unwind before bed. Not only does this help your mental health, but it boosts recovery for your physical well-being, too. A nice nightly routine like this can make a huge difference for stress free holidays. You may want to adopt it year round, as well!
Keep Active and Exercise
Even if you miss a few days at the gym or doing home workouts, finding ways to stay active and exercise when you can is next on our list of stress free holiday tips. Exercise releases endorphins, which act not only as mood elevators, but also as natural pain relievers. Working out can keep the stress away and reduce symptoms of seasonal depression or anxiety. Beat the winter blues and keep the stress away this year as you stay active!
Relax and enjoy this season as you put these tips for stress free holidays to good use. Remember that no matter how well you plan, sometimes things may get a little off course. By implementing these tricks and tips, you can learn how to stay stress free during the holidays and make them the most memorable ever. Try them out and see what works best for you!
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