Minimizing the Holiday Stress
Holiday stress occurs when people are exposed and involved in more events and obligations than usual, which demand more attention as well as pressure. However, unlike many other types of negative stress, holiday stress is usually easier to predict, thus makes it easier to minimize, too. Here are some plans that you can apply whenever you would be impacted by holiday stress.
1. Set your priorities
In holiday events, especially the ones that demand participation from the whole family members, you must decide what traditions offer the most positive impact and eliminate superfluous activities. For example, if you usually become overwhelmed by a flurry of baking, shopping, sending cards, visiting relatives and other activities that leave you
exhausted, you may want to pick a few favorite activities and really enjoy them, while skipping the rest.
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Holiday should be a perfect even to hang out with families, hold parties and celebrations, and give gifts. However, it is no surprise that many people suffer for overwhelming stress during major holiday seasons. What could possibly cause holiday stress in an event that should be fun? Take a look at these major causes of holiday stress, and see if you are familiar with them.
Stress comes when we are having difficulties in dealing with certain problems, such as finding a way to pay the taxes, facing a very difficult test, or receiving bad news related to family members. But sometimes, stress and its excess (i.e. depression) are often the result of habitual negative thoughts.
Often, news about someone who has committed suicide presents comments from his or her friends and families, such as, “he didn’t seem like someone who’s going to commit suicide,” or, “we didn’t know that she would do something like this.” Actually, if we know what to do, there are big chances to help someone who wants to, or thinks about, commit suicide.
Post-partum depression, which happens to most women after giving birth, caused by hormonal changes that follow childbirth and rapidly resolve within hours or days. Most women probably only experience mild depression, weepiness, irritability, fatigue, and moodiness. Others, however, experience deeper and longer symptoms. Good self-care and support from family and friends can help many women, although others will require treatment with medication and/or therapy.
One of the most famous suicide myths is that someone who has committed suicide was surely psychotic or had delusional beliefs about reality. The truth is, most of suicidal people suffer from the recognized mental illness of depression; but many depressed people adequately manage their daily affairs. A person who looks normal could suddenly and ‘inexplicably’ commit suicide, even if everyone around him or her said that “he looked just fine.”
Herbert Freudenberger, author of “Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement,” first coined the term ‘burnout’ in 1974. He described the word as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.” While burnout is not a recognized psychological disorder, it shares similar features with conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, or mood disorders.
While meditation is surrounded by religion, beliefs and superstitions, it is a valid body state like any other, such as arousal or sleep. By learning to meditate, you can reap the benefits of this body state which include relaxation, energy and perspective on your life.
It may be common to hear someone complains about weather; the most common one perhaps when someone has bad mood because he or she could not bear staying at home for a whole day because of the storm, or someone becomes depressed because he or she does not like the dark, threatening appearance of the cloudy sky. However, there are people who experience more than those things. If the depression is severe enough and interferes with one’s daily life, that condition is called seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
It is normal to be nervous and anxious when you have to deliver a long speech, perform on the stage for the first time, or being trusted by your boss to lead an important meeting with big subjects. However, the story will be different if you feel nervous, anxious and even afraid just to meet regular people at the mall, or being in any social situations in normal, daily basis. Be aware, because they might be signs of social anxiety disorder.