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“Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NKJ)

Stress is a problem for many people year round, but there is something about the holidays that tends to cause an increase in stress for some. It makes sense because, well, there’s a lot more to be stressed about. Dealing with travelling, too many meals where we eat too much, spending more money than we typically do, being around family more than we usually are…it all adds up to negative stress, also called distress. But, what is a person to do about all this stress? Here are a few tips:

• Don’t set expectations too high. Rid ourselves now of the illusion that our holiday season will be perfect. While the mantra is “peace on earth”, there surely won’t be peace everywhere we go. Traffic will abound. Irritated shoppers will surround. And there is no doubt that at least a moment or two of our holidays will be spent frustrated about something or the other. Just accept it.

• Speaking of acceptance, accept that things won’t go perfectly as planned. Even if we have what we believe to be realistic expectations, things still won’t be completely smooth. And sometimes those things are beyond our control. For example, I recall one Christmas when a Christmas gift I was hiding in my car was stolen. I was so disappointed, but I had to accept that the gift was not the focus of the season. And the person who did not receive that gift was okay with it too.

More managing holiday stress tips will be featured on Friday.

 “Dear Lord, thank You for this special time of year. We pray we will not allow the stress to outshine the honor of giving thanks and celebrating the birth of Jesus.”

For His Glory

 Laurel Shaler (www.drlaurelshaler.com)
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