A Christmas crash: Ways to manage and avoid holiday stress and burnout
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It may be the most wonderful time of the year but that is if you survive the stress.
Stressors come at you from all sides - so how do you get them under control in order to enjoy the holidays?
It's no fun to roll through the next couple of weeks if you can't even enjoy them, so let's find a starting point.
Presents to buy, cooking to do, cards to send, parties to throw and attend, and expectations to meet.
"People put expectations on themselves that maybe aren't reasonable," said clinical psychologist Dr. Allison Bashe, the regional clinical director of New Directions Mental Health.
She said to start getting in control with a simple look in the mirror.
"Try to center yourself on the reason that the season is important to you, use it to be intentional about how you're spending your time," she said.
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Take a step back from the tentacles pulling you in multiple directions and simply make a list.
"I do think a list is helpful," Dr. Bashe said.
She said to go through everything you have an eye toward and determine how much time you really have.
"When it's written down in front of you, you can make those decisions like it's in black and white," she explained. "This is what I'm going to spend time on, these are the things that are going off of my list."
It's more than just trimming a few things out of the calendar, there are some things to add for your own mental health so you can get everything done and avoid burnout.
The degree to which we find ourselves stressed during the holidays...a lot of it is self-imposed.
"I would just try not to set expectations in your head about what something is going to look like," Dr. Bashe said. "Just try to let the events unfold a little bit."
Dr. Bashe said after trimming your to-do list to what you think you can really accomplish, get a task done you don't really enjoy but need to finish.
She added that you need to factor in self-care and that includes exercise, reading, visiting a friend, or shopping alone.
So, what about children in the house? Well, make sure to get control of the excitement accelerator.
"If we have the appropriate level of excitement, it kind of helps," she said. "I think it helps modulate them a little bit."
One way to do that is to get them involved with your to-do list.
"[Having] them help out with some of the tasks can be helpful, a good way to get them centered," Dr. Bashe said.
Whether it's visits from the elf on the shelf, decorating, shopping, or baking cookies, "it's always better to use positive reinforcement," according to Dr. Bashe. "If you get this task done, if you do this, this is the fun thing we can do."
She said children will follow your excitement-lead.
That said, it impacts each of us differently.
"People feel a lot of things over the holidays and it's important to remember - it might be a really exciting and happy time for you and someone else might not be feeling the same way," she said.