sheridan addiction: Lessen Holiday Stress With Gratitude ? Healing Yew

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Lessen Holiday Stress With Gratitude ? Healing Yew

November 1, 2012 by MIchelle Doetsch

It?s that time of year again. ?The Holidays? are just around the corner, and with them comes that good old-fashioned holiday stress. You know the type I?m talking about: preparing your home to be full to the rafters with people, preparing to travel long distances to see family members you only see a couple times a year, cooking a HUGE meal that tries to accommodate everyone?s dietary restrictions (vegetarian, gluten free, nut allergy, lactose intolerant, etc.), being served a meal in which you can only eat one or two items because the cook DIDN?T take your dietary restrictions into consideration, or maybe (for whatever reason) you won?t be spending it with family at all. The ?list could go on and on and on?

So what can you do to stay sane at this time of year? Well, studies show that gratitude can reduce stress, so I?ve come up with a few things we all can be grateful for this holiday season. I know it?s only Nov. 1st, but I find it really unhelpful when lists like these come out less than a week before a holiday, because I?m already running in full-on-stress-mode by then. Hopefully this catches you before the holiday stress kicks in.

Playing Host for a holiday celebration

I have the means to feed my family/extended family
I have a large enough home to host my family?s holiday celebration
My family love me and want to spend the holiday with me
I don?t have to make a long, uncomfortable journey at a stressful time when thousands of others are also traveling
I will not have to cook any meals for several days with all the leftovers I?ll have
My house will be cleaner than it has been all year

Traveling to a holiday celebration

I have the means to travel to see my family
My family loves me enough to want me to spend the holiday with them
I am blessed to have enough to eat
Whew! I don?t have to clean my house to anybody?s standards but mine
Someone else is footing the food bill today
I don?t have to spend all day cooking &/or cleaning

Attending multiple holiday celebrations

There are soooo many people who love me and want to spend time with me at the holidays that they don?t all fit into one house/city/state
I have more than enough to eat at the holidays
If I don?t like the food at one celebration, I still get to enjoy my dinner at the other
I get to experience more than one holiday tradition
I get to eat dessert twice (or turkey, or whatever your fave part of the meal is)
Where ever I go, I bring the party with me!

Spending a holiday alone

I don?t have to clean my house to anybody?s standards except mine
I can stay in my PJs all day if I want to
I don?t have to make a long, uncomfortable journey at a stressful time when thousands of others are also traveling
I can eat whatever I want
I can celebrate as much or as little as I want
I can watch as much, or as little, football as I want and no one will complain

I know this is a slight departure from my usual posts so please let me know what you think. I?d love to hear your gratitude(s) regarding the holidays! Please leave them in the comments and share the stress relief with all of us!

P.S. I have a quick favor to ask each of you? I just created a survey to help me understand how you choose a massage therapist. Would you be so kind as to take a couple minutes to complete it. It?s only 10 questions long. Thank you in advance!!

As always: like, comment, share, forward, retweet, etc. The super handy buttons haven?t gone anywhere; they?re still right beneath the post.????