CAUTION: Stressful Days Ahead

Three Tips for Better Stress Management

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” The recording of this whimsical holiday song back in 1963 suggested that all is bliss as the year closes. Christmas is on the way; family and friends will gather; snow will fall; delicious food and drinks will be on every table; gifts will be exchanged; merriment will abound. It’s a feel-good song. But the reality is—we’re not feeling so good these days. We are sick emotionally and mentally, and it’s manifesting itself physically. We are overeating from anxiety and under-eating from depression.

December slips in on the heels of Thanksgiving, and we hardly notice its arrival because we are too busy planning for its end. At work we have to wrap-up projects, hit sales numbers, beat numerous and unrealistic deadlines, complete this and finalize that. In the midst of the frenzy to the finish line, we are distracted by holiday festivities. We may be planning a trip to visit family during the holidays or perhaps our home is everyone else’s destination. There’s shopping, cleaning, home improvements, food preparation, decorating, office parties, drop-ins, and the bombardment of requests for donations during this giving season.

However, Bliss has been dismissed. So where did it go? How do we bring it back? How do we stress less and soar more?

Try these:

1. Broaden your scope.
   Too often we develop tunnel vision when we are facing challenges. We get caught up in problematic situations, and we can’t seem to let go. The more we concentrate on them, the more urgent they become to us. The more urgent they become, the more stressed we become. Pull back. This is one time when it’s okay to lose focus. Step back and view the big picture. A panoramic perspective makes the things we’ve zeroed in on tend to shrink. For example, if a company finds that its revenues have dropped sharply in the fourth quarter, and that’s all they focus on, they may miss the opportunity to acknowledge that the overall performance of the company for the year was pretty good. No acknowledgement of that achievement can lead to feelings of inadequacy by management and employees. Low morale is guaranteed to generate low productivity.
   
2. Manage your time better by managing your activities better.
   Rushed feelings lead to stress. Too many projects in too small a time frame lead to stress. Not being able to complete those projects lead to stress. Making mistakes while trying to complete those projects lead to stress. Having to do those projects all over again piles on even more stress. So how do you reduce stressors? Well, to start, you could learn to decline additional responsibilities when possible. Delegate and ask for help to allow yourself some breathing room. Realize that you only have a limited amount of time on any given day to do a ton of stuff you most likely won’t finish. And that’s okay. What you do with that time can leave you feeling comfortable with what you’ve accomplished or it can make you feel overwhelmed by all you still have left to do. Your outlook is your choice.
   
3. Slow down.
   Stop for a minute and listen to yourself. What do you hear? How do you sound in your head? Are you rushed? Are you exasperated when you’re hashing out present situations? Are you complaining a lot? Tune into your self talk. You might be surprised by what you hear. If you sound that way to you, most likely, you sound that way to others. How do you feel? Are you uptight and tense? Tune into your body talk. What’s it saying to you? Are your shoulders and neck tight? Do your nerves feel like they’re coiled up like a Slinky®? Is your brow furrowed and your jaw clenched? You might not realize you’re doing these things, but you will when those tense muscles are so tight that they start aching and you can hardly move. When your head aches, your stomach is in knots, your blood pressure is skyrocketing, and your immune system is weakened, you are at risk of great illness. Save yourself.

Take a breather. Slow it all down. Make the decision to enjoy the journey. Stop racing through life toward some unreachable finish line. We are almost at the end of another remarkable year. Good or bad, we lived through it, and we are poised to face another. Choose to finish this one in the best way possible. You’ll be surprised by all you’ll experience if you walked through the final weeks rather than trying to move at the speed of light. What you’ll discover is this: it really is the most wonderful time of the year.