Mindful Christmas: Strategies for Reducing Holiday Stress

With the festive season approaching, now is the time to focus on maintaining positive mental health. This will reduce your stress levels so that you can truly enjoy the festivities and the rest of the year.

Clarify What You Want

Before you get caught up in the details of preparing for Christmas, take a moment to sit back and clarify the type of Christmas season you wish to have this year.

Without that clarity there can be confusion, overwhelm and lots of purposeless action. Not knowing what you really want leads to scattered thinking and results in scattered action. It can also cause unnecessary stress, can sabotage your mental health, and lead to disagreements and misunderstanding in your relationships.

Instead, create a clear mental picture of the Christmas season you would like to have this year. Think about the following:What did you and your family enjoy last Christmas season?

What was stressful last year?
What can you change, improve, stop or start this year so you have the Christmas season you want?

Once you have clarity about what you really want, you will be more purposeful with your action to achieve it. You will also be clearer in your communication with your children, partner, family and friends. Importantly, it will be easier to manage their expectations.

Stop Worry

Whether you think about what you want or what you don’t want, it will become self-fulfilling through your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. When you dwell on the negative what if scenarios, worry, stress, dread, procrastination and uncertainty are present. When you focus on what you want, motivation, excitement and certainty are present.

Start focusing on what you want from now on, and the Christmas season you would like to have (as discussed above). By visualising exactly what you want for this Christmas, you program your mind to attract it through your behaviour. If you imagine it being positive, you will be more motivated than if you imagine it being negative. Notice how this puts you in a positive frame of mind, and helps you to look forward to creating the Christmas you would like to have.

Avoid Overwhelm

If you are feeling overwhelmed, you are probably thinking about everything that needs to be done before the Christmas season. Overwhelm is exacerbated by:

thinking that there is more to do than there is actually is to do; and/or
making everything equally important/urgent.

By making a list that you can see, you will reduce overwhelm. You will more easily focus on and take small steps to achieve what needs to be done. With the above clarity about the Christmas season you wish to have, make a list of the things that need to be completed before the festive season begins (e.g. buy presents, write cards for family and friends, finalise holiday plans, etc.).

Prioritise for success

Next, set some priorities for yourself. As you look at the list, ask yourself, does each activity on your lists really need to be completed before the festive season. If not, it is OK to say “no” to things that are a low priority and that can wait until after the new year begins. If yes, prioritise the actions on each list in order of importance, and then put a completion date next to each action. Once your list of priorities is complete and is realistic, you will feel more at ease and think more clearly.

Make sure that you put aside time in your diary or planner to do these actions. By seeing the actions in your diary or planner it will keep you focused, and will help to minimise any distractions. If you rely on remembering everything that needs to be done, you will likely add to your stress levels and there is a risk it may be missed (out of sight, out of mind).

Notice how by having a positive mindset, you can be more relaxed in the lead up to and during the festive season.

Dr. Vesna Grubacevic is an Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist with a PhD in Clinical Hypnotherapy. She is also the author of best-selling book, Stop Sabotaging Your Confidence, media commentator, and the founder with multi award-winning company, Qt. Dr Vesna has over 24 years’ experience in quickly transforming self sabotage, fears, anxieties, traumas, confidence, emotional and mental wellbeing, relationships and success. Passionately driven by making a profound difference, she has dedicated her life to empowering individuals, parents and professionals. For more free resources please visit www.qttransformation.com