4 Tips To Aviod Christmas Stress This Year

This is for the ones that maybe don’t love this time of year. If Christmas joy is hard to come by for you, because it’s replaced with stress, keep reading. If this isn’t you, send this post to someone you know. Stress happens to the best of us all year round. It can be especially hard when you throw in holiday shopping, hosting parties (that may not be as big of a stressor this year) and trying to untangle those Christmas lights that always seem to get more tangled each year. Today I’m giving you my top 4 tips to avoid Christmas stress. It is the most wonderful time of the year after all, so shouldn’t we all enjoy it?

Create time buffers in your schedule

This is good practice all year long, but especially this time of year. What comes to mind here is shopping. If you only have a certain amount of time to spend shopping on a particular day, let’s say three hours, it’s best to give yourself a buffer. You can’t accurately predict how traffic and crowds will be, but I always like to be more cautious. 

Let’s say it usually takes you 15 minutes to get to the mall, or whatever store you are going to, from your house. I’d say to double that time. If we are sticking with those same three hours example, that means you would spend about two hours shopping, giving you extra room to get to and from shopping. 

I find shopping on a deadline or rush to be stressful. This tip has helped me to feel more relaxed and enjoy shopping more.

Start early

If you get stressed easily it isn’t a good idea to leave all the Christmas prep and shopping to the last minute. To avoid this you just need to start early. Even if it’s just by a few days, but I’d recommend getting started now, you’ll be doing better than last year. 

By getting everything done early, you are giving yourself a chance to truly enjoy the magic of the season. You’ll also have more time to make some Christmas memories, which you can then use for our 31 Days of Memories challenge.

Realize you don’t have to say yes to everything

Again, this may not be as much of an issue this year, but this is a good practice to keep in mind. Normally the holidays are filled with parties, get togethers, and lots of shopping. If your schedule is feeling a little booked, it’s okay to say no.

If you usually host the Christmas dinner, it’s okay to suggest that someone else do it this year. It can be awkward telling people no, believe me I know, but it will be better in the long run. Cramming things on your plate when you already feel overwhelmed, will only create feelings of burnout and stress. We want to avoid those, especially this time of year.

Find your Christmas happy place

Finally, if you still haven’t been able to avoid Christmas stress, it’s time for a little Christmas self-care. I like to call it my Christmas happy place. This can be anything from watching your favorite Christmas movie, or baking festive treats. The goal is to get those stress levels down. 

Everyone deserves to enjoy the magic that this time of year brings. By following these tips I hope you will be able to avoid Christmas stress this year. .