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By Chatty Bella
True to my name, I was chatting
things over with some girlfriends about how stressful the Holidays
have become. The time we looked forward to as children, and had a
yearly countdown to “the big day” has suddenly become a time of
tension in our adult lives.
From all the parties, end of the
year work, and finding enough time for friends and family, it seems
that most of us find the whole season all too overwhelming. Well,
almost all of us.
“I actually don’t feel
holiday stress because I keep myself busy with work and I love
Christmas shopping. I don’t find myself loosing my cool. I know
other people would find that stressful but I enjoy picking out gift
suitable for each and every person on my list. I say “no” to
generic gifts. Being busy during the holidays is actually an
enjoyable task for me!”
That was the uncanny response of
my model/TV host friend Bubbles Paraiso. Can you imagine that? There
are still some adults that seem to revel in the Yuletide chaos?
Well, for those of us who need a
little stress-busting advice given the last-minute mayhem of the
last few days until Christmas, here are some simple tips that
everyone can follow:
By de-stressing some of the
“necessary evils” of the holiday season, you just may find that
there is spare time for a bubble bath with scented candle in the
room, or maybe caroling or a quiet drive to look at the lights.
Perhaps reading Christmas stories or singing carols with spouse or
children?
You have a lot of other work and
also your routine work during the holidays. These include shopping,
baking, cooking, dinners etc. You may forget to take care of
yourself in this business. But you must take care of your self
before you stressed out and get exhausted. Follow some tips as given
below.
Learn breathing techniques to
relax. When you feel anxious, take a deep breath and hold it in for
a ten count. Slowly release it and take another deep breath in.
Repeat this simple exercise three or four times, until you feel calm
again.
Remember that even you have a
capacity beyond which you cannot push. Yes, you do like to have
family dinners, cooking and baking for your children, shopping
gifts, decorating and cleaning the house etc. but you may be
stressed out to do all this all alone. So if you are really
indulging into all this delegate the work. So that you get some time
free for yourself.
You must stay healthy. Focus on
your health during this holiday season and it will probably make a
much difference. See, what you eat. Stay away from junk food. It’s
hard not to taste-test your dishes, but remember that every bite
adds up to your weight.
Hit the gym as often as possible.
Even if you can only fit in a 30-minute workout twice a week,
that’s okay. Something is better than nothing. You can work out a
lot of your stresses in a single 30-minute workout.
Even if you are not feeling
happy, smile. Smile, even though it is false. Fake it until you make
it. Once you make it, you won’t have to fake it. No one can really
know the difference. And you will feel cheerful after you think
happy things and smile.
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