How to De Stress this Holiday Season

4 Easy-to-use Stress Relievers
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Although the holidays are a time when you can enjoy spending time with family and friends, they often throw a curve ball in your regular routine which can cause stress and anxiety. Whether it’s booking and monitoring your travel, managing your budget, purchasing a last minute gift or balancing the demands of work and personal life, ‘tis the season to slow down and approach your stressors rationally.  

This holiday season, take a temporary break from the hustle and bustle and implement these 4 easy-to-use, stress-relieving methods.

1.      Problem Solve.

Because it’s the holiday season, it’s tempting to ignore stress in order to keep your spirits high. Unfortunately, ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away. Take a minute to reflect on what’s causing your stress and try to resolve it. Remember, trying to ignore stress can be, well, stressful!

Try to approach what is causing you stress rationally by asking yourself the following questions:

• What is causing you stress?
• What can you do to resolve the issue?
• What is your desired outcome?

Learning to address what is causing you difficulty quickly and effectively will help you make positive changes in your life all year round.

2.      Communicate.

Sometimes we cannot solve the problems ourselves and instead need the buy-in from others around us. While a letter to Santa may be ONE approach, I’d recommend focusing on communicating with those around you.  Make sure you’re clear about your message, ask for feedback and listen to what others say in response. Try to keep your emotions to a minimum and keep an open mind. Remember, you are not the only one who is faced with way too many things to do during the holiday season. You may be an unintended victim of someone else’s issues. Keeping an open line of objective, constructive communication can help alleviate stress in the long run.

3.      Build better relationships.

Get in the spirit of the holiday season and improve your work and personal relationships. Having people that you can trust and communicate with will help you talk out your problems and find solutions. Try to focus on the positive when building new relationships and work together to accomplish common goals.

Being open and honest with others can help you feel a sense of community with them, which will ultimately lift your spirits.

4.      Be flexible.

Don’t forget to ask yourself, “Am I being flexible?” The holiday season is both busy in personal and work life. You may spend all night online shopping only to have forgotten about your 2012 budget planning meeting at work the next day. It happens. Remember, your co-workers and family members may be dealing with the same stressors. Try to see things from others’ perspectives before focusing on your own feelings and make a sincere effort to adapt to changing scenarios.

No matter what the time of year, it’s important to consider reducing the amount of stress in your life. The first step to doing this is to determine what exactly causes you stress. If you’re having trouble pinpointing the causes of your stress, consider taking an inexpensive stress test. You’ll discover what life factors stress you out (family, health, work, etc.) and what exactly you can do to reduce the stress in your life.

For information about this or other behavioral assessments, please contact us at learn@corexcel.com or 1-888-658-6641 (M-F, 9am – 5:30pm Eastern Time).