Holidays can cause some stress.
It’s the holiday season once again! Everyone is getting ready to travel, cook, and spend quality time with family. These are also the ingredients which could result in a stress-filled time of the year because everyone seems to be on the go. Even beyond the holidays, we might have some negative residual feelings lingering. However, here are some tips of the best things to do in this situation: 1. Make light of all the things that go wrong. Sometimes we forget to just laugh, even though humor is something we can always use a little bit of. Negative things happen all the time and the more lightly we take them, the better our time spent with loved ones will be. 2. Take a deep breath or two before we let our feelings overcome our rational thoughts. 3. Practice mindfulness.
A sense of humor goes a long way.
Just in case you need a refresher, having a sense of humor is as simple as turning the blender turn on and watching it splash that tasty smoothie all over the walls. In this case, you have some options. Either you can get angry and quite possibly have that emotion stick around for the rest of the day, or you can look at that situation and laugh it off as hard as you can. You’ll still have to clean up the blender’s mess, but at least you’ll have a good laugh.
Taking a deep breath helps you out.
Taking a deep breath works in many situations such as public speaking, managing stress, irritability or even anxiety. Before, during, or after doing any of these feel free to take a deep breath, hold for a few seconds, and repeat. Voluntary changes in breathing will cause your body to respond in a positive manner and ultimately you’ll overcome your stressor. If you feel lightheaded, then it is time to stop.
Practice mindfulness.
The word mindfulness is often heard but sometimes misunderstood. According to www.minfulness.org, “mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” In short, when we look back up at the examples above, you have already been practicing mindfulness when you are able to appropriately react to the blender situation. Mindfulness is something everyone already knows so it’s not difficult to pick it up and practice.
Mindfulness is something everyone already knows so it's not difficult to pick it up and practice. Click To TweetPractice, Practice, Practice
The best ways to get better at these suggestions is to practice. I know everyone does not want to go out and practice getting mad followed by practicing calming down. Luckily, these skills can easily be practiced when you pick up an activity you love, but might be a little bit more difficult than expected. Sudoku’s work miracles at making people practice patience. Playing any sport or game which is competitive allows you to win or lose in style and lastly, starting a difficult craft that takes a few hours to complete will test your patience to the max. If you can work through these, then you can work through almost anything.
As the holiday season starts and ends, you’ll learn to manage your emotions the best way you can. Enjoy your holidays!