Tips on Handling Holiday Stress

Daris Lancaster: So what is holiday stress? Stress, by definition, is emotional and mental strain or suspense but with the holidays, stress almost defy definition because what can be stressful for one person is not stressful for another. Each year we have these holiday shopping crowds, we expect we know that they are there. One person might find that being a part of that crowd is something that accelerates and even excites and motivates them. Or another person can find that the same crowd as a source of frustration, confusion, makes them feel even anxious. So what's the difference? The attitude. Now, it can also cause self-sabotaging behaviors like focusing on, what's not going right? What you wish would have been happening? Who is not there? It's really important to take care of yourself, to take care of your stress, and to put some copping plans into place.

One simple easy and very portable way to stop stressing its tracks is practice of deep breathing. All you need to do is just to call your awareness to your breathing and you can start by taking three nice deep cleansing breathe. Now when you take these breathe, you want to be aware that you are breathing into your chest and into your abdomen.

Another thing that you can do to eliminate the stress of doing too much in little time is to delegate. Now if you are going to choose to delegate, you have to keep in mind about who you are delegating to. If you choose to delegate someone that you know won't follow through, well that's your expectation is going to lead to more stress. You can be aware of what your stresses are to help eliminate stress for yourself. Being aware of your triggers, being aware of your likes and dislikes, and with some careful planing, and some management techniques you can really reduce the stress that you are feeling and make the holidays a really wonderful pleasant time of year.