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CONSIDER USING HOLIDAY-RELATED COPING SKILLS ALL YEAR-LONG

CONSIDER USING HOLIDAY-RELATED COPING SKILLS ALL YEAR-LONG
By Damita JQ                                                                           01/2018
 
The triumphs, the worries, the battles, the up and down experiences from 2017 are in the rearview window.  It’s a new year! 
You cannot go back and redo the past, but you can try and learn from past emotional triggers which may have ruled over you.   Some people had worries over: meeting the expectations of family, friends, a boss, or co-workers; financing gifts and activities; get-togethers, dealing with the realizations of unmet desires; and starting it all over again in the new year.  
Did you survive the stress and learn new coping skills?  Of course, you survived.  Humans survive it all.  You probably did better than you care to admit to yourself because you participated and engaged in life!  You found a way to survive.  That is what resiliency is about -  resiliency involves finding and utilizing coping methods to deal with the mediocre to bad times involving ones': fears, worries, and anxieties.
Fears and anxieties can lead to more problems.  Some of the anxieties and stresses cause mental and physical fatigue, sleepless nights, and overall distress.  Women and men, I have talked with mentioned how they looked forward to the various December holidays because it meant: bright decorations, time off from work, seeing family, get-togethers, decorations, and receiving gifts. However, some people also stated that they felt financially overwhelmed, going into debt to buy gifts and expensive decorations, and trying to make their homes and meals perfect for get-togethers.
Evaluate how you coped with stress for the next holiday season.  Did you keep negative memories of past holiday grief in the past?   Were you able to keep interactions with negative people to a minimum?   Were you able to keep your expectations realistic and at a minimum, or did you expect perfection and place undue stress on your desires?  Did you play music to calm your nerves?  Did you exercise or meditate?  Or, did you talk with someone you trusted about your emotions?  
Remember that you are human, and are not subject to someone’s rules on perfection.   Some methods of coping which work for me are: remembering that problems are temporary, dealing with concerns early on when I realize a problem is emerging, reading, journaling, practicing calm breathing methods, and giving myself permission to take a break.
The end of 2017 marked a passage of time from the old to the new.  The start of 2018 marks new holidays and new happenings and stressors.  In a few months, another holiday season will be upon us.  Some tips would be to meditate, ask for help if necessary, to write out a list based on significance of things to take care of, consider your finances, and remember to be good to yourself by taking care of yourself emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Did you survive the stress and learn new coping skills?   In looking at ways of coping with past holiday stressors, you may discover methods to de-stress throughout the year.
Some websites with resourceful information on coping with holiday stress and anxiety are below.  Keep in mind that these methods can work all year round.  They are:
 
 
 

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