Reducing Stress for the Holidays

Take advantage of modern solutions and delegate tasks to manage stress during the holiday season.

Is your sanity on the fringe? It’s fun when things are going well, but when things are falling apart, there are steps you can take to reduce your holiday stress.

While it’s a normal part of life, what causes holiday stress varies each year, depending on the incoming family, gifts to buy, and dinners to plan.

But, in any high-pressure situation, around the holidays, you have two options: you can react or respond. Reacting is off the cuff and can make stress worse.

Responding is taking a deep breath and recognizing the emotion, then deciding what to do about it, and more importantly, how to tackle it.

So, don’t react and flip off food (or people) from the dining table. Together we’ll look at tips for holiday stress management to help you enjoy the season. 🤗

Some of us love, love, I mean love planning and hosting. We love it so much we get hell-bent to do it all and eventually we start to say, “it’s no big deal” and “it’s going to be totally worth it.” Those are just a few phrases that we like to call, red flags. You are rationalizing the amount of work you’re taking on. You’re most likely doing too much, especially if you say them often.

If you haven’t gotten to this point yet, or you’re low-key there, we suggest you take a step back. Actually, go ahead and take a leap back. Write down all the tasks you’ve given yourself and think about how many of those jobs could be easily delegated to someone else.

Reach out for help to cut down the stress levels.

Don’t get stuck on the “if you want it done well, do it yourself” mentality because it’s not always true and if someone falls short, it just makes things more interesting. Reducing your holiday stress is always more important than forcing things to go the way you imagined.

For example, let someone else gather the gingerbread supplies. Maybe you were imagining building a replica of Hogwarts but your helper might end up bringing supplies to recreate wonky barnyard animals that end up making everyone laugh instead.

You don’t have to do everything. Give yourself plenty of time to do what you are going to do, and ask for help when you need it! And no, passive-aggressiveness doesn’t count. This goes for all things from hosting the holidays to cleaning the house.

🎄 Here’s something you should delegate… LoadUp provides FREE Christmas Tree removal when you book junk removal of 2 or more items over the phone or online from Dec 26 – Jan 31! 🎄

You can offer stress-free solutions during the holidays by setting expectations before events.

Whether you’re attending or hosting a bomb holiday dinner that could seat the Royal Family, or keeping it warm and simple, the invitations should mention things like what the attire is, what to bring, what time it starts (and ends if you want to be in bed at a certain time), etc.

Share the itinerary for a big event to offset time-keeping pressure.

By letting your guests know what they should expect when they arrive, how they should behave, and if they should make any special plans for your dinner – or after dinner if you tell them you want them to leave by 9 pm – you’ll likely be reducing their holiday stress!

If you want everyone to show up super casual and welcome themselves to your pantry and fridge, tell them everything on the invite! Save the spontaneity for nights out. When you’re hosting things, it’s good to leave a little wiggle room, but most holiday planners and many guests like having an idea of how the night is going to go.

There are some things that on any other day of the year, you could spend time making yourself heard. Like leaving dishes in the sink or forgetting to take the trash out.

Normally those are annoying, but when you have a million and one other things that are needing to be done, those aren’t worth stressing over. Plus, if you’re asking for help, you can bet that your family, friends, or roommates also have a few things on their mind.

Overcome difficult family tension by focusing on what you can control.

Instead of worrying about the small things, focus on making sure the big things are under control. This will keep you from being constantly on edge and you might even feel more in control since you’ve set aside the standard worries for the other 11 months out of the year.

This time of year, money is flying out of every orifice. Money also happens to be the dominant source of stress for 44% of people in the United States. Shocker.

It’s tempting to just put all gifts and groceries on the credit card, but you can end up spending the entire following year paying it off just to start over the following holiday season. That’s why we suggest that for at least this season, try to stay on top of a holiday budget weekly.

Going into every week with a budget keeps you from biting your nails every time you swipe your card at the store. Instead, you feel confident and relaxed that you’re well within your right to purchase what you’re getting.

You might already be on top of the game and budget every month, but the holidays are full of parties, get-togethers, drink outings, and more! These events often happen on short notice, so waking up with a slap in the face by your bank account is almost expected this time of year.

A thought-out holiday budget helps avoid straining your bank account.

Start with a holiday checklist of gifts, events, cards, wrapping paper, and traveling expenses that you are expecting. Then try to find space in your normal budget where you can adjust certain habits to make more money for the holiday budget, and set aside this money.

You can organize it by event (Office Christmas Party, Family Christmas, In-Laws Dinner), or by general categories (outings, alcohol, gifts).

It’s up to you, but no matter how you plan, try to avoid spending more than you have with a credit card. It’s a risky plan and nine times out of ten, it doesn’t reduce your holiday stress.

Speaking of money… don’t make shopping harder than it needs to be. If you just happen to be out and about and you find a gift that isn’t just more clutter, then absolutely get it. But nowadays you can online shop in almost any situation.

Like while you’re standing in line to see the latest thriller, scrolling while ignoring that show you’ve seen four times, avoiding eye contact in waiting rooms… you get it.

Use your downtime wisely to stay on top of holiday shopping stress.

We all know the beast that is Amazon and, oh, the glory of 2-day shipping. You’ve seen how it suggests other items as you go. So maybe if you’re stressing about how you’re going to get all the gifts, think about how bad pre-internet generations had it. Perspective is everything.

🚛 Pro Delivery Tip: Get your shopping done by December 18th. This gives you time for shipping, days to relax before the big day, and time to wrap (or bag) your holiday presents.

Don’t skip this section! We know, it’s the holidays, we deserve a break. But, exercise has been proven time and time again to not only improve physical condition, but fight off diseases, maintain mental fitness, and avoid burnout. These are all things we need especially if you’re feeling stressed during the holidays! 👀

Deep breathing is the #1 key to relieving holiday stress.

Whether you prefer walking, running, yoga, hiking, swimming, it doesn’t really matter as long as you enjoy it! All the endorphins released during exercise help calm your brain and knead out those hormones.

Once Thanksgiving hits and forward, it seems like the food is never-ending. While it is nice to splurge and eat till your heart is full and happy, your body spends so much effort digesting it that you can feel groggy. This can hold back how effective you are during your workout and affect your sleep. All of this trickles down and reduces how well your body manages pressure.

Which brings us to our next point: sleep. Stress and sleep can easily slip into a dangerous relationship. Not sleeping can make it worse, and high-stress levels can keep you from sleeping. See, terrible. So, by acknowledging the demands in your life you are also helping the quality of your sleep.

Delegating tasks can help you sleep better and feel better.

It’s not a good idea to stay up until 4 a.m. because you had to make (albeit adorable) 3-D Christmas tree cookies. The CDC has reported that people who get less than 7 hours of sleep have an increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, obesity, stroke, depression, arthritis, and kidney disease! Yikes! Minimize the risk and get some sleep for goodness sake.

Unfortunately, most of the clutter you find throughout the year comes from holiday gifts. So, in preparation for this year’s slew of gifts, we suggest decluttering your home before the holiday. Aside from preparing, decluttering also helps make room for people to stay or hang out in your home.

You can declutter by going room by room or by tackling the main area that has built up clutter. For most homes, this happens in the living room but it could be different for you. You’re going to be shocked how much decluttering will help reduce your holiday stress.

Once you’ve figured out what you want to get rid of , consider which items can be donated or even re-gifted! For the items that are neither of those things, those pieces of junk are our treasures. Look into ways of properly disposing of them, perhaps through recycling.

Don’t forget to take some time after all of your family and other guests have left to declutter the leftover holiday junk, which can help with a smooth transition back to work and reality.

Hire help for a stress-free haul-iday season.

If you just have too many items or don’t have the time to dispose of household junk, consider calling a maid cleaning service or even a junk removal company like LoadUp. Remember our previous tip on delegating tasks? This is a perfect opportunity for you to get your home clean while keeping the pressure low.

Of course after the holidays you’re going to be gifted with more clutter and will need to deal with additional things that aren’t recyclable like piles of wrapping paper.

Maintain the progress you made with reducing the clutter in your home before the holiday by decluttering once more after all your gift exchanges have concluded. Luckily, we have a handy guide ready to go on what to do with your post-holiday clutter as well.

✨ Not sure where to begin getting rid of household clutter? Follow our how-to declutter guide.

The holidays are known for all the love and cheer that comes with seeing loved ones. But for those of us that either live far away, had to spend the holiday with the in-laws instead of our own family, or just couldn’t make the event for whatever reason, all the “holiday cheer” can instead make frightfully aware of how you’re not with them.

Reach out to those you haven’t seen in the past couple of hectic years.

Now is the perfect time to take advantage of video calling your family members. It’s not the same, we know, but it’s pretty amazing how less alone you feel when you see their face and hear their voice. Obviously, a phone call is good too, but the added sense of sight helps make the world feel smaller and like they’re not so far away.

Either at the end of the day or at the beginning of your day, you need to feel like yourself. If not you can have a bit of a mental break down similar to an identity crisis.

Instead of feeling like a personal shopper, interior designer, party planner, or maid, ground yourself with activities that make you feel like your cool-self again. The activity depends on you so while video games may work for a friend, wine and a bubble bath may be it for you.

Even just spending just 20 minutes of uninterrupted alone time helps.

You know yourself best! Even if you have to splurge, we say go for it. The holidays are for enjoyment, not torture.

Sleigh this Holiday with Self-Care ☃️

If you follow our tips for reducing holiday stress and take care to meet your personal needs, your body (and your loved ones) will thank you! Remember, stress around the holidays is inevitable but how we manage it can make or break our mental health.

Always think about ways you can respond by either facing the issue or determine ways to stop it from controlling you by asking for help or reevaluating ways to meet expectations.

Your friends at LoadUp want to wish you a very merry Christmas and healthy, happy holidays!

Related Articles from the Trash Talk Blog:

• Get FREE Christmas Tree Disposal
• How to Make Your Holidays Pet Friendly
• The Ultimate Holiday Decluttering Guide
• Tidy Up the Halls: Decluttering Christmas Decorations the Easy Way