| The best way to make the holidays brighter is by reducing stress, yours and your family’s.
Below are some suggestions of ways to do that.
- Accept imperfection. Acknowledge that things may not always go as planned. Unexpected things do come up. Give yourself permission to reduce expectations and allow yourself grace with cutting corners.
- Be realistic. As well as joy, holidays can also be reminders of our losses or some sadness in our lives. It is not unusual to feel lonely while in a room full of people that appear to be having fun. It is also possible to hold both sadness and joy in your heart at the same time. You can be both happy in a setting and simultaneously sad, perhaps about a loved one that is not with you.
- Respond with kindness. Many others are stressed, and you cannot control how they act or react. But you can change how you respond to the situation. Keep in mind that others may have stresses that you don’t know about. Children may be over-tired from excitement or disrupted schedules. In those moments, a few slow breaths can shift your experience and give you a new perspective of the situation.
- Don’t loose sight of what really matters. Kids may or may not remember the details of holiday happenings. But they will remember how they feel with each event and each experience. Hopefully, they will feel happy and joyful.
Nurse Kandy, LeafSpring school at Three Chopt |
