Our Gift to You This Holiday Season

Holiday stress got you frazzled? Here’s a gift for you.

When faced with the pressures of life, emotional turmoil is only one aspect of the problem. Hormones like adrenaline and cortisol accelerate the heart rate, tense major muscle groups, and can even thicken the blood. All that can be beneficial as a short-term thing, when you need that “fight or flight” edge adrenaline is famous for. But bathing in those hormones over an extended period can cause cardiovascular disease and other illnesses. Prolonged stress is simply unhealthy.

What’s the solution? Quit your job, leave your family, and live on an island paradise? We don’t advise it. Sometimes, attempts to get away from it all merely create a new set of stressors. As long as we’re alive, we’ll have problems to deal with. The trick isn’t escaping the drama, but knowing how to deal with it.

Our gift to you this holiday season is a three-pronged key to reducing the damaging effects of stress in your life.

1) Find your stress buttons.

Usually we think of this in broad terms. For instance, many people will tell you that money is a major stress trigger.  But that’s too vague. What is it, specifically, about money that troubles you? Do you have too much month at the end of the paycheck? Does mounting debt make you suffocate? Are your accounts in such disarray you don’t even know where you stand? 

Whether the trigger is financial, familial, job-related, or otherwise, once you isolate it, you’re better equipped to meet it head-on. If you’re not sure how, don’t be afraid to enlist the help of an advisor, be it a financial planner, a family counselor, or a professional organizer. That’s what they’re there for!

2) Slay the dragon of self-defeat.

Once you grab the bull by the horns, you might find the critter has some unexpected allies. Interruptions, unplanned expenses, illnesses or injuries, car breakdowns, or sewer back-ups are just a few of the things that can make you lose your grip. When sewage happens, your mental response is vital to staying above it.

In these tense situations, beware of the “woe-is-me” attitude that casts you as a helpless damsel in distress. For example, instead of thinking This could only happen to me! or I don’t have time for this, see yourself as a stalwart knight who’s up for any challenge. This is unexpected, but I can manage it or I can adjust my schedule and it’ll work out fine.

3) Know when to take a breather.

Some days, no matter what your attitude, everything seems to go wrong. At such times, the best option can be simply to take a break. Separate yourself temporarily from the stressors to whatever degree is practical. The distraction can give you a chance to regroup, think more clearly, and ease the flow of stress hormones surging through your system.

Phone a friend who always makes you laugh. Work a brain-teaser, or write a poem. A longer-term solution might involve exercise. Take a brisk walk, go to the gym, or enroll in yoga classes. Get out and play in the sun. These activities relieve stress and also fire up the brain’s reward center. People who exercise regularly show greater self-confidence during stressful situations and are calmer in general than those who neglect physical activity.

Life happens; there's nothing we can do about that. Our wish is that this gift can help you take charge of your life in the coming year.