I just received a text from a friend that read “Let the Holiday Stress Begin.”
Moms around the country are cooking, cleaning, entertaining kids who are home from school for the holidays, hosting relatives that they like and don’t like, shopping, planning for the next holiday coming up, and more than likely eating lots of goodies.
YES, the holiday stress has begun.
Black Friday emails are flooding my inbox, and I haven’t even eaten my Thanksgiving turkey… building the pressure for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa season. My kids want this and they need that (shoes, long underwear). We have a baby in the family this year for Thanksgiving Dinner, so what time will we eat? Will the baby allow her parents to sit down and eat? Who’s on clean up duty? Right now I really should be peeling apples instead of drinking coffee and writing this.
You get the drift. Holidays are intense, stressful and typically unavoidable. And as moms, we often absorb all the stress, tension, and anxiety of the holiday season. Just acknowledging this is helpful in brushing some of the “crazies” away, but here are a few:
Turkey Tension Tamers:
Sleep. Although moms think and believe they’re invincible, they really cannot survive the holiday season without rest. Simply go to sleep – whatever needs to get done will wait until the next day. Have trouble putting your thought stream to bed? Make a list, write down what you want to do and forget about it.
Exercise. Everyone is eating a few more cookies and drinking an extra glass of wine. Often the attitude is “why exercise if I am splurging so much?” It is exactly the opposite. Forget burning a few extra calories, exercise will help you sweat away stress and increase your endorphins.
Just say NO (one time). It’s hard to do, but skip one party, one family get together, one outing with friends. Take a little time for yourself or just with your own family. Hang out in comfy clothes, take a bath, watch a movie, or play a board game. The constant pressure of getting dressed in party clothes and being “on” can lead to burn out…..break away for one night.
Deep Breaths. Try to enjoy the holidays, breath deeply, and remember that 2012 is around the corner.
Ok, I have to go peel apples for apple crisp….
Happy Thanksgiving,
Rachel
