Dealing with Holiday Stress

Nora Rhoades, Family and Youth Development Agent

The holiday season is here! The season presents vast opportunities to reflect and connect with others where you live, work and play. Yet for many, also accompanying the celebrations of the season is stress.

Stress is the way your body responds to experiences and events. Appropriate stress is healthy and useful – and can even help you rise to a challenge and face tough situations with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. Stress can also be overwhelming and cause distress – such as anxiety, tension or irritability.

Learning what causes you stress and how to manage it in a positive way can help you cope and live a more balanced and healthy life.

Take a moment to reflect about stressors. Stressors are simply events that provoke stress. Some stressors are caused by negative events such as an argument, physical danger, test anxiety, or concern over finances. Events that we look forward to such as celebrations, going to a movie with a friend, or even the upcoming holidays are also stressors. Stressors can be single events or a result of multiple events that pile up.

When you experience a stressor, your body reacts in three ways. First your body signals alarm. Certain hormones are pumped into the bloodstream, which speeds up the heart rate, increases respiration and slows down digestive activity.

Next, your body moves into a resistance and adaptation stage. Here, the body tries to repair the damage caused in a state of alarm and return your body back to ‘normal condition’.

The third stage is exhaustion. It is only when stress is not positively dealt with that the third stage occurs. Your body cannot be stressed all the time. Release must occur or exhaustion may result.

Here’s some tips to help you resist and adapt to the stressors you’ll face during the holidays. While stress likely cannot be completely avoided, with health and wellness practices you can work through stressors in a positive way and find joy in the holiday season.

• Set expectations – Talk to your family, children, friends, and co-workers about expectations during the holidays. Be open with them if money is an issue. Use this as an opportunity to teach youth about the value of money and responsible spending. Be realistic. Take small steps to deal with holiday tasks instead of overwhelming yourself with goals that are too far reaching.

• Keep things in perspective – Try to consider stressful situations in a broader context and keep a long-term perspective. Avoid blowing events out of proportion. Model how to keep things in perspective, including what type and the number of gifts to give and receive.

• Make connections – Good relationships with family and friends are important. View the holidays as a time to reconnect with people. Volunteering is a good way to connect with others. Remember that accepting help and support from those who care about you can help decrease the impact of stressors. 

• Take care of yourself – Pay attention to your own needs and feelings during the holiday season. Engage in activities you enjoy and find relaxing. Taking care of yourself helps keep your mind and body healthy and primed to deal with stressful situations. Consider cutting back on device use. Instead, go for a walk or play a board game with a friend. This promotes activity and distances you from sluggish time and possible influence from media which may not align with your expectations and values.

Stress is not something easily avoided during the holidays, yet there are many healthy ways you can approach your stressors to enjoy the season. For an individual conversation about your own stressors and how you respond to them, contact your local Post Rock District Office. I, Nora Rhoades, your District Family and Youth Development Agent, am happy to help you and yours find joy with minimal distress as we close out 2019.

Sources: American Psychological Association, K-State Research and Extension Keys to Embracing Aging