3 Simple Ways to Reduce Your Stress During Holiday Season

November is here. The holiday season is underway.

December is just around the corner.

And what does it bring with it, apart from lots of food and presents? Stress.

For some stress rears its ugly head once November arrives.

For some stress rears it’s ugly head every day because life just didn’t turn out the way they wanted it to.

And that stinks. As we can all attest to. Because not one of us gets through every day with life behaving in a perfectly polite way, showering us with great experiences, all day, every day! 🙂

Given that we all experience stress and it’s probably magnified during the holiday season here’s my 3 simple solutions to holiday season stress.

1. Forget perfect

Forget trying to make everything perfect.

Or just like it has been for years.

Let go.

Allow change to happen…and make room for new rituals, new family members and their ideas and be willing to release some old habits.

You might be surprised at how something wonderful will come out of your willingness to forget perfect.

One year our family couldn’t be together for the holidays. I felt pretty sad about it.

So we packed a suitcase and took ourselves off for a few days to experience something totally new.

It was different, but still brilliant. 🙂

2. Step away

Step away from all the holiday planning, thinking, and give yourself permission to focus on you.

Remember the time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. One of life’s mysteries. 🙂

Just sitting in silence for 5 minutes somewhere quiet, with no distractions, can energize your body and mind.

Close your eyes, slow down your breathing because:

Sometimes it's the little moments that breathe purpose and joy back into your life.

3. Get oily

No, I’m not talking about smothering yourself in coconut oil, I’m talking about the most used essential oil in the world today.

Lavender oil.

My most favorite ‘go-to’ technique during the holiday season…or those days when life just seems to present a few more difficulties than usual is to diffuse lavender oil for 20 minutes. Or alternatively a couple of drops dabbed on my wrist works wonders.

It’s relaxing, stress reducing, and the house smells amazing.

So when I take that breather I’ll make sure the diffuser is running, or I’ll apply a couple of drops of oil.

Then I’m set up for whatever is coming next in my day.

But…for me, it has to be a pure therapeutic essential oil that I know hasn’t been cut with any synthetic substance, because my body is sensitive to chemicals.

Final thoughts

Don’t wait until you get overwhelmed. It’s the quickest way to ruin your holiday spirit, and even to get sick… so not worth it dear ones.

Try one or two or all three of these techniques starting today and remember not to take everything so seriously.

If you’re going to be serious about it. Seriously, just be happy.

You have the power to always reach for happiness, all you have to do is operate that power, because it just can’t operate itself.

Tune in to happiness and eliminate stress and remember, the holiday spirit lives in your heart, not in turkey dinners or under a tree.

Encourage one another.

Love Elle

xox

(Please know that if you follow a link to the lavender oil to buy, I will get a small commission, and it doesn’t alter the price for you.)

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Elle Sommer

Elle Sommer is the author of 4 books and a workbook. Her latest publications are a series called The Power of Consciousness, and you will find all three books in this trilogy now available on Kindle. She shares quotes, inspiration and positive vibes on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. And her greatest desire is to encourage and inspire others to create not just a good life, but a phenomenal life.