Contact: Myrna Manners, Kathleen Robinson, Peggy Sung
Phone: (212) 821-0560
E-mail: pes2001@mail.med.cornell.edu
 

MERRY STRESSMAS
‘Tis the Overwhelming Season

New York, NY (August 1999)—Crowded bustling malls, repeated trips to the airport to fetch long lost relatives and the constant shuffling of cookies and turkey out of your oven can translate into one reaction:  stress.  Christmas may be the season of love and celebration, but sometimes holiday festivities can become overwhelming.

According to Dr. Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist at the Weill Cornell Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, some families’ stress stems from trying to keep up with the Jones’s.  For others, it’s the family conflicts that arise with all that togetherness.  In addition, moms often end up doing a tremendous amount of preparation during the holiday season.  This excess work, and the struggle to please everyone, can leave them feeling isolated from their families and their families missing them.

“During the holidays, our lives become even more stressful as we try to juggle our usual responsibilities with extra holiday preparation and complicated family dynamics,” says  Dr. Saltz.  “This year, try to keep  your  holiday  season  stress  to  a  minimum, by prioritizing what is important to you, and then planning how you will get it done.”

Dr. Saltz has the following valuable advice for trimming yourself of stress this holiday season:

1. Prioritize the holiday events that matter the most to you and your family.  Realize you can’t do everything well, so choose the things you can accomplish, enjoy, and feel proud of.

2. Don’t expect things to turn out exactly the way you planned, so you can go with the flow if they don’t.

3. For gift shopping, remember it’s the thought that counts.  So don’t let competitiveness and perfectionism send you on endless shopping trips.

4. Simplify, simplify, simplify!  Don’t bake twenty different kinds of cookies unless you enjoy it.  You and your family may enjoy fewer cookies and more time together.

5. Remember that family time can both be wonderful and anxiety-provoking.  Often expectations for reunions with rarely seen relatives are too high and the result is disappointment and frustration.  Just try to be realistic.

6. Plan your time so that you take care of several errands on one trip.  You will have
 more time to spend doing the things you really want to do.

7. Don’t be afraid to do less this year than you did last year.  It’s more important to spend time with the people you love than to spend money on them and competitive needs to outdo others can ruin your enjoyment of your holiday.

8. Take some time to think about what the holiday really means to you and your family--family time together, religious observances, reflection on your life and future goals.  Let these parts of the holiday keep things in perspective.

These tips can help you reduce stress, and make the holidays a pleasure.  Doing less may help you enjoy the season more, and that is really the best stress reliever of all.