Manage Holiday Stress: Boosting Inner Peace

There’s no denying it, there are many factors that can cause holiday stress. Family in town. Meals to cook. Gifts to buy. …the list seems to never end.

So, if you're wondering how to keep your stress low the entire season long, you sure want to try these 5 ways to boost your inner peace.

1.     Organize Yourself

Most of the stress from the holiday season comes when you aren’t organized or prepared. This causes you additional worry as you wonder how everything is going to come together last minute! Instead of stressing for months on end, organize yourself in advance so you will feel more at ease as the season goes on.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to do everything last minute during the holiday season. For example, you can start buying gifts in October and November. Not only does this help you save time and stress later, but your wallet won’t feel as stressed come December.

2.     Take Some You Time

Although your third cousin twice removed is in town whom you haven’t seen in forever, be sure to take ample time to yourself this holiday season—otherwise you’ll burn yourself out. It can be helpful to schedule this into your busy schedule so that you know exactly when and where you will be taking time for yourself.

It can also be helpful to take this time away from your home—for the simple reason that it is probably filled to the brim with family members already. Don’t be afraid to schedule a solo coffee date or quick lunch with yourself so that you can sit back and let a little of the stress of the holiday season go.

3.     Keep Family Time Laid Back

Besides being sure you schedule time for yourself, you should also be careful not to over-do family time. It may seem fun to take everyone out to dinner, or to a movie, but often times these events can add extra stress to your mental state and wallet and are better skipped.

Rather, plan a fun at home movie night, or maybe just sitting around the couch and chatting with family members. It may seem too low key for the holidays, but it will be much less stress than dealing with the crowds and stress of getting your entire extended family out of the house.

4.     Let Visitors Help

It can be tempting during the holiday season to tell your guests to sit back and try to do everything yourself. After all, it’s your house and you know where everything is at! But this actually adds undo stress onto you and can quickly make your holiday no fun depending on how many people you have over.

Don’t overload yourself, instead ask guests to help. Even if you don’t trust them in the kitchen, consider asking them to do small tasks like laundry, tidying up the living room, or helping with the dishes after a large meal is over.

5.     Don’t Forget Your Healthy Habits

When you have extra bodies in your home, and more things on your to-do list than ever before, it can seem easy to toss aside all those healthy habits you just spend months building. But when you do this, not only does it destroy all your hard work, but it also puts you under more stress.

Do your best to keep your habits intact this holiday season. Do you normally wake up early? Continue that. Work out every day? Find time for it. It may seem difficult, but if you can maintain healthy habits during the hustle and bustle of the holidays you will feel so much better afterward.

Overall, holiday stress is hard to avoid. But if you use the above 5 tips to boost your inner peace, you’ll find that this holiday season is much easier than previous ones—and you might just enjoy yourself a little this time around 🤗