Stress Reduction for the Holiday Season

The Holiday season is fast approaching and for many it's a mixed blessing--Holiday Stress mixed with Holiday Cheer.

Who isn't charmed with dazzling store displays, excited children, and all the delicious cookies and candies everywhere? And a major high spot is arranging relaxed quality time with family and friends at Holiday dinners and parties. There are high expectations and a variety of pressures to guarantee happy celebrations.

However, the reality of the season can be quite different; it's a draining month, jam-packed with time-consuming activities and social commitments, stress with finances and gift giving, crowded stores with no parking, over-excited children, and the challenge of preserving emotional and physical health. Sometimes just the anticipation of the Holidays can be overwhelming.

Blended families have added pressure that may involve spending time with ex-spouses and multiple sets of grandparents, visiting kids who may be lonely for the other parent, loneliness if your child is spending time with the other parent, step-sibling rivalry, competitive gift giving, and a group of children who may be over-stimulated and over-indulged moving between households.

Everybody is run ragged and spread too thin, planning, baking, dealing with conflicting family schedules, and organizing transitioning children. And this year, because financial worries are a critical concern, there is even more anxiety around creating a firm budget and being creative about gift giving.

The Holiday season is an emotional time that can make problems more acute; although everyone is supposed to be enjoying themselves and each other, tension and anxiety can take over and stress us out.

What is the secret to lowering Holiday stress and confronting common issues and problems as blended families come together over the Holidays?

The experts advise several stress-reducing strategies including:

Planning ahead and prioritizing Keeping it simple Setting a budget and sticking to it, no matter what Asking friends and family for help and not being the martyr Agreeing on a Time Out for family issues and problems until after the Holidays Keeping children on a schedule and minimizing sugar overload, over-tiredness and meltdowns Maintaining emotional and physical health by getting enough rest

We also recommend treating yourself to affordable, flexible Blended Family group coaching to help decrease holiday stress around any of the above issues or helping you prioritize and implement useful strategies to make this Holiday season your best ever.

Sheena Berg is a step parenting coach with Blended-Families.com. Take a minute and check out their Holiday Survival Guide for Blended Families.

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