The holidays offer plenty of reasons to be stressed out and anxious — the gifts you haven’t wrapped, the pile of cookie exchange invites, the office parties. But for many, the biggest source of holiday stress is family — the family dinner, the obligations, and the burden of family tradition. And if you’re fighting clinical depression, or have had depression in the past, the holiday stress can be a trigger for more serious problems.
Key Takeaways:
- “Practice optimism,” said Kohl. “Take a situation that you know is going to allow for a happy mood or thought, and focus on that and by doing so you internalize the feeling.
- People should focus more on an attitude of giving because it’s the act of giving that can bring true happiness, said the chaplain.
- Practice those thoughts and ways that they would experience that conflict, so that there’s competency when it comes to dealing with it.
“One way to handle and deal with a lot of those stressors is to communicate those frustrations through some means, whether talking with someone or simply finding on outlet to relieve the stress, such as exercise, he said.”
