Stress-Free Holiday Season

The holiday season can be, if we let it, a very stress filled time of year. There is pressure to over shop and over spend; decorating, and entertaining. For those who are single or away from family, this can be a lonely time. People can feel left out and isolated. For other families, simply getting together can lead to tension and worse. One of my clients commented that she had no good memories of Christmas as a child. She said her mother was so stressed out about things having to be just so at Christmas, that all she could remember was that she always seemed to be in trouble and her mother was always angry with her.


Regardless of your personal holiday history, you can choose to find peace and happiness at this time of year. Here are some suggestions for creating peace and happiness:
• Choose to slow down
• Choose to feel and express gratitude
• Choose to be generous with your time and your love
• Choose to SMILE
• Choose to take a deep breath or several if necessary
• Choose to create happy memories
• Choose to keep things simple
• Choose to be playful and see things from a child’s perspective
• Choose to find joy in the small moments
• Choose to give gifts that say, I know you, rather than cost a lot
• Choose to make and stick to a budget (Trust me this will make after the holidays more peaceful and happy)
• Choose to expect to have a great time NO MATTER WHAT

Holidays in general breed unrealistic expectations. The minute you start wondering, 'is it going to be wonderful enough?,' it never will be.
Pepper Schwartz

Make up your mind that you are going to find ways to enjoy the holiday season. Decide that you are going to create peace and joy for yourself and let that feeling ripple out among those that you know and come in contact with. Remember: How we treat family members or clerks at the store or people in traffic is so much more important than what we buy or who we impress.

Susan Derry, B.Ed., M.S.Psy., R.P.C.
Professional Counselor & Life Coach

Co-author of Marriage Prep: Beginnings a downloadable marriage preparation course

Co-author of Intimate Sex: Manual for Lovemaking, a sex manual for couples

Offers a free Nurturing Marriage Ezine