Ten Ways to De-Stress during the holidays…
- Like everything, the holidays will pass, learn to enjoy them!
And you’ll need to take a few moments amid the rush and the madness of buying gifts, hurrying to get to holiday parties, and making sure nobody is forgotten to realize that a day after Christmas, you’ll be asking yourself why you didn’t enjoy the lead up. And please face the fact, you get stressed every year! Take a few minutes restart your mental system so that you can approach this holiday as if it’s the first holiday you’ve ever celebrated.
- Enjoy those you dread!
Now doubt you’ll be running across some people you’d rather see photos of lounging at least 5,000 miles away from you. Such characters will use the holidays as an opportunity to needle, mock, and criticize you. And sometimes do all three at once! The antidote to nastiness has never been found, but the antidote to a reaction is simple: selective hearing. Tune out, imagine such a person or persons are in Siberia or the colony of Tasmania crying for you to rescue them. I give you my word, it works! - Set some time for yourself!
Lest you think that you have no time for yourself, you do! Though, I work seven days a week, there have been numerous studies that have shown that 4 day work weeks increase effectiveness. Just imagine how much of a better shopper you’d be if you took a few hours for yourself and soaked in a tub, read a book, sung a song, or read my life story. - Never neglect your physical activity. Start the year by being in better shape you were than the year before. Who wants to start the year, thinking you need do extra work at the gym all January? With few exceptions January is a dreary month better spent trying to have fun rather than guiltily running on an exercise machine.
- Don’t forget the forgotten
Call up someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. I did that in the ‘40s, I called William Randolph Hearst and tried to form a rapprochement. He hung up the telephone in my face, but at least I impressed my wife with that overture. - When it all gets too much, take a break and draw a cartoon! Therapy is fine, but sometimes you need some therapy on the go! Whenever I’m in urgent need of such, I’ll start drawing cartoons and scribbles on my pad. Sometimes I’ll exaggerate features and draw grotesque caricatures. Having your mind focus on lines and scribbles will at the end leave you refreshed enough shift your energy to the more important things when you’re done.
- Make sure you stay healthy! I’m a Victorian, but recent studies have shown how menacing germs are. Wash those hands as much as you can, if you see someone who is sick, make sure in a polite way that you let them know that you’re averse to accepting their germs.
- Act happy. No matter how stressed and tired you are put up an act! Act like you’re having fun, smile, laugh, and never respond to someone asking how you are by saying how stressed, tired, and miserable you are. To a large extent happiness is a state of mind, when you’re act like you’re happy, you might turn on that happiness switch and soon realize how your mood is so important to those around you.
- Ask yourself why you’re celebrating a holiday? Is it to boost the stock of a huge corporation, or is there something sacred? Most holidays are religious, whether you’re part of the Church of England like myself, have no religion, or are a part of so many wonderful religions. Don’t forget the meaning, the history, and everything else that gives these days the meaning they have.
- Give in order to get. Do something charitable and kind, you’ll feel better and that feeling that you made someone else’s holiday better will last longer than that woolen sweater or electronic gadget (most of which will go out of style in a few years or become replaced by something swifter, sleeker and more expensive).
Oh, and have wonderful holiday season and a safe New Year and do listen to everything I’ve said. It takes some wisdom to be around for 160 years.