#holiday-stress

#holiday-stress

Next, greet the vanity issue: Will it matter if you wear the same outfit as last year to a dinner party? Probably nobody else will notice, and even if they do, they won't care. Do you get pleasure out of handwriting cards and mailing them? Do it if you enjoy it. If not, send a simple electronic card to those who matter most. Eliminate 30 to 50 percent of everything on your list.

It's mid-November, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which is great news for our taste buds. But the holiday season may also bring stress that can be hard on our stomachs, causing issues such as bloating, heartburn, or just general feelings of discomfort. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Remember what's important and forget the rest. Obviously, some emotions are hard to manage: The automatic startle when we see a snake in the grass is hard to control. But the majority of our daily emotions are the result of how we think about the world. In one study, researchers recorded people at the airport reporting lost luggage to an airline. Even though the objective event was the same, people responded in different ways, from anger to anxiety to good humor.

While the holiday season is supposed to be a time of joy, connection, and lots of filling up on delicious holiday dishes, for many people, the pleasures fall short of their hopes. For some people, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations inspire stress, the pressure to live up to family expectations, and overeating to feed one's emotional pain, along with psychological and/or physical isolation. Parents juggle restless kids in unfamiliar settings, hosts fret over creating "perfect" gatherings, and privacy can be hard to come by.

I was mid-meltdown one Christmas, with toys to buy, impossible relatives to search for, cards to send, turkeys to secure, families to see (you know the drill), when my friend leant an understanding ear. She took a pause and said, 'Christmas can be any day you know, it doesn't have to be the 25 th.' And for the first time in my adult life, the bauble dropped.