Help for the Holidays

The holidays can be a rough time for everyone. From all the shopping, the card-writing, and to the paper-cuts from wrapping gifts; to the lack of sleep, added stress, and dealing with any emotional ups and downs. The holidays can bring up both good memories and bad memories, based on how we remember them in the past, and how our minds associate this time of the year with those memories. It can be both the most looked-forward to part of the year for some people, and at the same time, the most dreaded time of the year for others.

Are you depressed yet?

Don’t worry, this will help! There are some things that you can do today, tomorrow, in preparation for the New Year’s Eve, and for the rest of your life really.

First and foremost, it is very important that you take care of yourself. Meaning, take some time for yourself during the day to just catch your breath and relax by doing anything that, well, relaxes you. You can even set a reminder on your phone throughout different times of the day if you know yourself to be a person that forgets to breath sometimes and needs a little reminder. Easier said than done, I know, but even taking that one minute to yourself during the day, at different parts of the day, can make a difference. Our minds have gotten so fast paced these days that we can tend to get stuck in our thoughts and our tasks, not realizing that we are overworking ourselves. This can greatly contribute to added stress that adds up throughout the week, which can take a toll on your physical, emotional, and mental state. So, when you take that minute to just find your center and catch your breath, you are essentially just taking a step back from your thoughts and defusing from any emotions that may be causing you added stress at the moment.

Like I said, this is something you can do on any day, but it’s good to know especially during the holiday season when you are freaking out trying to figure out what to get your brother-in-law’s wife’s sister’s husband that you only met once. Or if your are simply just overwhelmed with your family, friends, or your life overall.

Now touching on the other aspect of the holidays that can be both good or bad, the memories. Memories can be very sensitive things for us and if they are bad we try to avoid everything that is related to them. If they are holiday related it’s tough to ignore them when everything is decorated and Christmas tree’d, red-and-green’ed, and wonderland’ed with Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra singing in the back.

So what can you do?

If you simply can’t avoid something, what is the other option? Find something that you can enjoy within the whole experience. Something that you find fun or interesting that you can take away from the whole thing. This can be something as simple as a food, a song (listening to Frank Sinatra), or finding good deals during the holiday sales; there are numerous things you can show gratitude towards.

Written by Ali Elrehaimy, Clinical Counseling Intern