Mentally Preparing to Handle The Holiday Frenzy

Sort out what really matters to you.

by Amy Norton and Heather Bowen Ray

With the changing weather, fall brings exciting occasions and holidays many of us love. However, all the extra activities that pack these months— like cooking, baking, gift shopping, and holiday parties — can leave us feeling spent and stressed.

According to the American Psychological Association, women are more likely to experience high stress during the holiday season and use unhealthy coping mechanisms. The American Psychological Association found that 41% of women turn to food to cope and 28% of women turn to alcohol to cope with holiday stress.

As we know, these typical ways of numbing ourselves through food and drink can lead to weight gain, further health complications, and ultimately don’t solve the root problems we face.

We want you to enjoy the upcoming holidays with as little stress as possible. Here are our tips.

Realize that you can’t do it all.

Admitting this may feel defeating. Yet being present in the moment when you’re at your kid’s holiday play or your best friend’s holiday party is far more rewarding for you and the people around you.

To begin, take a deep breath. Glance at last year’s calendar and make a list of all the events you attended and anything you want to attend this year. Listen to your inner voice — what did you most enjoy? What left positive vibes? Use that information to number the events in order of importance. Stick to this! You may want to attend every party and holiday movie airing this season, but pick the most important, impactful options. Things like visiting your parents, taking your kids to see Santa, going to that new holiday movie, and your best friend’s party may be more important than an acquaintance’s holiday party or Black Friday shopping. Pick what is most meaningful to you and the people you care most about. If you can, eliminate whatever is at the bottom of your list immediately and during this season refer back to this list any time you are feeling like TOO much is happening.

Choose to be intentional and enjoy the season. If you do everything on that list you will only remember the frenzy, not the wonderful people around you. Saying no is okay!

Keep up your self care routines.

When things get busy, self care is often one of the first things to go. In reality, self care should be prioritized during such a busy, hectic time of year. If you don’t keep yourself running well, then you won’t enjoy yourself and you may let others down when you’re running too low.

Take that bubble bath, enjoy a cup of tea, read, watch a good movie, listen to music, and don’t skip your workouts. You are incredibly important and worth taking an hour off to relax and reset. Even if you can only take 10 or 20 minutes alone to check in with how you are feeling, that’s a good start.

Encourage those around you to pamper themselves, too. Everyone deserves self care.

Start planning early. (How about now?)

Take a 10 minute break to plan ahead for gift shopping, decorating, cooking, baking, and more, by listing out your intentions and the steps involved. By planning ahead, you’ll be better able to savor the holidays without feeling frenzied and panicked.

Sit down with a pad of paper and write down the names of everyone you want to gift (along with gift ideas and pricing). Plan your cooking and baking in advance, mark your calendar with any holiday occasions so there are no last minute surprises, and make a plan for buying what you can early, such as gifts, holiday cards, decorations, and recipe ingredients that won’t go bad.

Just having a plan will make you feel in control AND will save you time, and probably money. It’s often said that one hour of planning saves three hours of execution. Use that to your advantage!

Identify what stresses you out the most.

Lastly, take a look at previous holiday seasons and identify anything that may have “set you off” or been particularly stressful.

Are you someone who hates baking holiday cookies? Skip it, buy your cookies this year, or see if you can delegate the task to someone who enjoys baking.

Hate hosting that holiday get together? Reach out to a friend or family member and see if they will co host it with you! Having a partner can eliminate some of the stress.

Experience acute stress around a particular family member or friend that comes around this time of year? Cut your contact with them or limit your exposure as possible. Your well being is more important.

Focus on what matters — how you feel inside.

All in all, remember that you are important and everything does not have to be “perfect.”

Take care of yourself by planning ahead, being intentional with your plans, practicing self care, and eliminating the extras. You matter!