December 14, 2018
Dealing with Christmas stress
Christmas can be a busy time of year for many people, with stress both at work and at home in the lead up to the festive break. There are presents to buy, parties to organise and deadlines to meet all before the big day, so it’s understandable that things can sometimes get a bit too much.
With the amount that people are expected to do at this time of year, there’s little wonder that sometimes we can all feel a bit overwhelmed. However, there are ways to bring down your Christmas stress levels and here are few useful tips that can really help make this a time of year that’s not to be dreaded:
Plan your time in advance
At both work and at home, the time crunch that comes with the festive season can mean even the most organised of individuals can find themselves getting stressed. However, a great way to avoid this is to be proactive and to plan out your days in advance.
By setting up a timetable of what needs to be done and when, you can create a framework of tasks that breaks down the large and daunting into the small and manageable. For example, planning out your Christmas Day workload to get as much done in advance as possible, like peeling and preparing the veg the night before or pre-stuffing the turkey, can be a great way to reduce your stress on Christmas morning.
Meanwhile, organising your time in work to prioritise those tasks that will be most complex or time-consuming to get them out of the way early on can be a great stress-saver as Christmas approaches. It also pays to push back on taking on extra work, if you can, as many offices will be running bare bones over the festive break and so putting off anything that can feasibly wait to January can be a good time-saver.
Make sure to be mindful
Everything’s go when it comes to Christmas, so you might be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed, either on the big day itself in the hustle and bustle of family gatherings, or in the run-up to Christmas when work is especially busy.
One way to deal with this, however, is to set aside time for yourself to relax and unwind. You should make sure that placing your own wellbeing at the top of your priorities is something you do this year, as a mindful approach to managing your wellbeing can work wonders in relieving stress.
Simply setting aside a few minutes each day to forget about the pressures of work, or the stresses of planning a family gathering, can be a good way to keep yourself grounded. Remember that, whatever happens, you can get through this and at the end of the day, it’ll all be over soon.
Keep yourself active
Finally, we all know that endorphins can be a great stress reliever, so why not make the most of the festive period to get them flowing? Working in an office day after day can mean we spend a lot of time sitting down, while the after-dinner nap on Christmas Day following lashings of turkey, stuffing and all manner of sides will do little to set our pulses racing.
It can therefore be tempting to say we’ll make it our New Year’s resolution to get active after the excesses of the festive season are over, but taking the bull by the horns and doing more exercise now can be a great way to make a stressful time of year that much easier to contend with.
Taking a walk outside or going for a jog can be a great way to boost one’s mood and to get your body moving, no matter the time of year, while taking the friends and family to the park after a slap-up Christmas feast can be a more healthy way to help your meal go down than vegging out on the sofa.
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