Tips for Holiday Stress

The holiday season can be a stressful time. Whether you’re planning last-minute trips, making sure you’ve done your holiday shopping, or trying to cope with changing schedules in inclement weather, there is no shortage of things that can elevate your stress levels. Take a look at some of the most effective ways to reduce holiday stress.

Get Organized Early

One of the first things you can do to reduce and alleviate holiday stress is to get organized early in the process. One of the biggest issues with any holiday season is that it can often feel like there are a thousand things flying at you at any given moment. Oftentimes, this can stem from having to plan and attend activities, events, and check off to-do lists for several different things at once. To alleviate this stress, one of the best things you can do is to get organized early.

As the holiday season approaches, start taking notes on when things are going to happen in your schedule, what travel arrangements need to be made, project budgets that will need to be allocated, and more. Getting organized early will help you allocate your time and resources in an orderly fashion so you can avoid scrambling at the last minute because you forgot an important deadline.

Slow Down, Don’t Rush

During the hustle and bustle that the holiday season can bring, it might feel like you need to get a thousand things done in very little time. All this pressure can build up over time and cause you to feel like you’re going to fall short of expectations or let someone else down if you don’t get it all done in time.

When things start to get a little too hectic during the holiday season, slow down and avoid rushing through things. When you rush through any activity, whether it’s buying gifts during the holiday season or planning last-minute trips, mistakes can happen. Those mistakes can then compound your stress and cause you to feel like you’re getting further behind. As you begin to feel like you’re falling further behind, you might feel obligated to skip out on other important aspects of your life like eating well or getting adequate exercise.

The best way to counter this type of stress is to take a deep breath and focus on slowing down as you go throughout your day. Create a checklist of things that you need to do and assign times or dates for when they need to be complete. As you’re building the list, sort them by the estimated time to complete them and systematically begin checking them off one at a time.

Creating some structure around the things you need to do and when they need to be completed will help you prioritize immediate tasks and eliminate the feeling of so many things that need to be done at once.

Get Comfortable Saying No

During the holiday season, responsibilities can compound quickly if you’re always saying yes to everyone and everything. Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls during this busy time is that you may often feel like you have to say yes to everything and don’t want to hurt anyone else’s feelings or impact their plans. You can’t please everyone, which is why you need to get comfortable saying no when the need arises.

Part of making sure that you reduce the holiday stress you experience is setting appropriate boundaries when you’re getting overwhelmed or you already have too much on your plate. Getting comfortable saying no and politely declining those requests to attend more parties, buy additional gifts, or travel will help you reduce many of the last-minute headaches that can creep in.

If you find that you’ve already committed to something and no longer have the ability to complete it or the time to attend, make sure that you give adequate notice to those who need to know. Your friends and family will understand if you’ve got too much on your plate and need to take a step back during this busy season, so don’t be afraid to say no when you need to.

Try to Avoid Comparisons with Others

The holiday season can bring a lot of challenges, including those where you compare yourself with others. Comparing yourself with others on social media, television, or in person can have drastic effects on your stress levels. Comparisons can also come in the form of one holiday season compared to the last. When you compare yourself to others, you can create a sense that you’re not doing enough or you’re not living up to others’ expectations.

It’s important to remember that what you see on social media and other entertainment platforms can often seem like the perfect holiday season and is often misleading. Avoid comparing yourself with others and the things you see from dozens of different sources and focus on what matters – spending time with friends and family.

Focus On Your Health and Well-Being

As your stress levels rise, other areas of your life can begin to lapse as you place them on the backburner. During this stressful time, you want to renew your commitment to your health and those healthy habits that are important. One of the best ways to stay on top of your health is to make sure that those aches and pains you are currently experiencing don’t become something much worse.

Our licensed physical therapists are trained in helping individuals from all walks of life deal with their aches and pains to make sure they don’t slow you down during the stressful holiday season. Letting those aches and pains add up can cause your stress levels to rise as you fall even further behind in your holiday planning and shopping.

Physical therapy can be a great way to address any pain you are experiencing so it doesn’t slow you down and ensure that you are on a pathway to recovery and actively doing all you can to prevent future aches and pains.

In addition to physical therapy for your aches and pains, you need to prioritize your rest and recovery. Stress can wear you down over time and even impact your sleep schedule. Prolonged periods of stress can have a whole host of negative effects including headaches, fatigue, sleep issues, muscle tension, changes in eating habits, weight gain, and more.

Oftentimes, these negative effects of stress can build up over time when you don’t realize it. Make sure you’re avoiding many of these common pitfalls of stress by working to get enough sleep, eating healthy, and participating in routine exercise. Remaining vigilant to the hidden effects of stress can help you ensure that you’re healthy and have the energy that’s necessary to get through the busy holiday season.

Get Comfortable with Imperfection

Stress can also stem from your desire to make sure everything is perfect. Unfortunately, even the best planning and foresight can cause things to go awry when things don’t go according to plan and your commitment to perfection during the holiday season is ruined. No two holiday seasons are going to be the same which means that even the best plans can have hiccups. Avoid trying to create the perfect holiday season and instead focus on the things that truly matter.

Build a Support Network for Stressful Scenarios

The next thing you can do to alleviate holiday stress is to seek out and build a support network for stressful scenarios. Stress can stem from last-minute shopping to complex travel itineraries that you need to plan. Find and work to build those support networks that will help you accomplish your list of to-do’s during the holiday season and give you a shoulder to lean on when those tough days come around during the stressful time.

By building this support network you’ll be able to alleviate stress and can divvy up and share many of the responsibilities that were once solely yours. Sharing the responsibilities can not only help you get more done in less time, but they can also be great bonding experiences for the people closest to you.

Avoid Conflicts

Conflicts can pop up at a moment’s notice during the holiday season. Cancellations and family disagreements are just a few of the many things that can go wrong during the holidays. Avoiding conflicts can be as simple as letting friends and family members know that you don’t want to engage in certain activities or knowing when to step aside when things get a little heated. Don’t be afraid to step aside and take a breather when you need to or completely avoid scenarios that could eventually develop into conflicts later down the road.

Avoid Massive Overhauls To Your Routine

Another way to alleviate holiday stress is to avoid making massive overhauls to your daily routine and schedule. During the holidays, it can be easy to make a slight change in your routine to make sure you can make last-minute accommodations. These last-minute changes and adjustments to your daily routine can throw your body out of whack and cause you to feel fatigued or elevate your stress levels when you’re not expecting it.

Remain Optimistic

Optimism during the holiday season can help you put everything into perspective and avoid stress. Even the smallest of actions like laughing and smiling frequently throughout the day can help you reduce those times when you begin to feel stressed. Try to remain optimistic during the busiest time of the year and you’ll find that no challenge is too big to tackle.

Alleviate Stress with Physical Therapy

Stress can build up over time at any point, not just during the holiday season. This stress can have both mental and physical effects on your body, and it’s important to take proactive measures to make sure the stress doesn’t have long-lasting effects. Our licensed and trained physical therapists can help you channel some of that stressful energy into more productive exercises and stretches. In addition, our PTs can help you alleviate some of the many common things that can compound your stress like the aches and pains you’ve been dealing with.

Request an appointment today at one of our local physical therapy clinics near you to see how physical therapy can help you alleviate holiday stress.

1. “How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 June 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm.
2. “How Stress Affects Your Body and Behavior.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 24 Mar. 2021, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987.