Tips to deal with Stress this Holiday Season!

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Tips to deal with Stress this Holiday Season!

So this morning, my husband and I were talking about panic attacks. Yeah, straight to the heart wrencher…lol…but, stress can come outta nowhere and hit you like a ton of bricks. I want to bring this up as we approach the holiday season. Sometimes, the holidays are a stressful season for many, and for some, aren’t as happy and cheery. We need to have tools in our wheelhouse to deal with stress…especially because it can sneak up on you, in the form of a panic attack! My husband and I were talking about how the first time it happens, you have no clue what the heck it is that is happening to your body right now…and sometimes these panic attacks just happen out of the blue. Your heart beats fast…etc., don’t want to trigger anyone…but, the first time it happened to my husband, he was in college, at a college party drinking beers, having a great time! What a weird time to have a panic attack! Right!? Well, one thing we can be sure of is that our body tends to show you when you need to slow the F* down by making you sick or when you’re thinking you’re hiding your emotions, your body tells a different story, by fidgeting, shaking, sweating, etc.

It’s time to be in tune with our bodies, know what our triggers are, and what is stressing us out. Then, we can formulate a plan to deal with it. There are many different types of stressors, such as: time, situational, anticipatory, and encounters. So, your first step is to be aware of the type of stress it is so we can address how to deal with it as it comes up.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Think about a time you were stressed. What did it feel like? What other situations trigger that feeling in you?
  • How did you deal with the above situation?
  • Rate yourself from 1-10 (1=not effective at all, 10= very effective) on how effective your behavior was for reducing the stress

Now that we did the above, and we are in our reflective mindset…what could we have done better to navigate through stressful times? See below for some tips.

TIPS:

  • REST, sometimes a lot of stress comes from a lack of rest. With the holidays coming up, you could be thinking of all things you have to do to get ready. Well, schedule in some rest in there. Don’t say there’s not enough time…because, your body will make you take the time! SO before it gets to that point, schedule in rest!
  • SAY NO. As women, we tend to constantly say yes and overwhelm ourselves because we don’t want anyone to think X (insert adjective: they’re upset, I made them feel bad, they need my help, they can’t count on me, I am not a team player…etc.) about us. You don’t have to please anyone, they will understand you can’t do it. Some people need to hear the word no, so they don’t feel so entitled. You’re really doing them a favor 😉
  • Schedule the busy-ness in small time chunks so you don’t get so overwhelmed. You can schedule by priority to make it a more manageable task, but break down that priority into smaller pieces so it doesn’t overwhelm you to get the entirety of the project done in one sitting.
  • Do the tasks in prime time hours that you know you work best. Like, if you are a night owl, and you are the most active after 9pm…anything you can do from home, schedule it then.

 

XO,

Tash