The holidays can be very challenging.  The 2024 Psychology Today review by Foley entitled, “Manage Holiday Stress or Blues with the Gift of Self-Care,” offers some ways to help reduce holiday stress, anxiety, and depression.

Many people report that worry and stress increase during this time of year.  Giving yourself the chance to process both positive feelings such as joy and negative emotions like grief can be important.  The article suggests four stress reduction strategies to use during the holidays.

1. Stay in contact with trusted friends and family.  Express feelings to people who understand you and will be supportive.  Avoid negative conversations.  Turn your focus toward gratitude and having positive interactions with others.
2. Maintain self-awareness. Schedule time for yourself.  Take a few minutes each day to deep breathe, meditate, pray, or write in a journal.  Do whatever keeps you feeling grounded and well balanced.  Some people also enjoy exercising, reading, or listening to music.
3. Maintain a healthy routine. Make sure you are having a well-balanced diet, getting enough sleep and not taking on too much.  The holidays can be a time of excess.  Focusing on not getting too far off eating and sleeping schedules can help things go more smoothly.  Learning to delegate tasks so you don’t get overwhelmed can also be helpful.
4. Monitor and adjust negative self-talk. Try to be aware when you have negative thoughts or self-talk.  Try to challenge or replace negative self-talk with more functional thoughts.  For example, if you think, “I am not good at making cookies” replace this thought with “I just need to follow the recipe and instructions, then the cookies will turn out okay.”  Then you can give yourself some flexibility.  If you focus on the recipe and follow directions, most likely things will turn out well.

Many people become overwhelmed during the holiday season.  Using self-care skills and strategies can help us avoid some of the challenges and struggles.

Wishing you a happy and stress-free holiday.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steven Chen

For more information, please contact Dr. Chen.