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How to Cope with Stress During the Holidays
189 Plays2 years ago
In EPISODE 53 I share a few tips on how to navigate and cope with stress during the holidays. I also wanted to say THANK YOU for all your support this past year and see you next year in 2023!
YOUTUBE VIDEO: HOW TO COPE DURING THE HOLIDAYS: 5 TIPS
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Transcript
Holiday Special Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Therapy for Dads podcast. This is the quick little holiday special. I wanted to first say thank you so much for your support over this past year of 2022. Looking forward to 2023 and what is to come. But I wanted to share a couple quick thoughts about 2022 and ways to navigate the holidays.
00:00:24
Speaker
Something I'm finding as a dad is really focusing on what I find most important and what is most valuable in my life. And for me, that is my kids and my family. I know that might be different for everybody out there, but it's really, yeah, my boys, my daughter, my wife,
00:00:42
Speaker
And
Cherishing Moments & Holiday Wishes
00:00:43
Speaker
so something I've been really working on this holiday season is just to take time to slow down, to not get stuck in just the busyness of the season, but just to be present to the small moments of joy, the moments of connection with my kids, with my spouse. And so I share that as an encouragement to you to think about what you find most valuable during this season, what is most important to you.
00:01:07
Speaker
And to prioritize that and to let all the other stuff go, put it last, put it on the back burner, really, really cherish the moments you have with what you find most important and to really put that in the forefront.
00:01:24
Speaker
So I just want to share that quickly and I'm also going to drop in here in a minute, a quick little video. I'm going to drop the audio from a video I made on some other tips of navigating the holidays and stress during the holidays. It's on my YouTube channel, which I'm going to drop actually a link to that video in the description of this that you can click on and take you to my YouTube channel.
00:01:47
Speaker
which has a bunch of other videos I've done too. But I'm going to include the audio from that recent video about five tips on navigating the stress during the holidays on this episode. But I want to thank you guys. Really, I wish you all the best. I wish you a wonderful holiday time with your friends, with your family.
00:02:07
Speaker
and engaging in things that you find most important and valuable in your life. And I look forward to seeing and talking to you in 2023. But until then, here is that audio. Have a great rest of your year and see you next year.
Managing Holiday Stress with Travis Goodman
00:02:23
Speaker
Do the holidays bring up a lot of anxiety, stress, worry, sadness, anger? Do you dread going to see certain family members or just dealing with the day to day? Often during the season, it brings up a lot of stuff in us, a lot of stress, a lot of difficulty during this time of year. And my name is Travis Goodman and I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist. And I'm going to give you five things you can do to help you navigate this holiday season.
00:02:50
Speaker
So let's just jump right in with number one. Take care of yourself. Now that sounds quite straightforward, but really it's about the basics. So make sure you get enough sleep, prioritize eating healthy food, prioritize exercising and being active to get your body moving. When you do these things, when you sleep,
00:03:10
Speaker
When you eat well, when you exercise, it helps your body first and foremost recover from the stress from the day. It helps your body restore its energy to better be able to handle the different stressors during the holiday season. So that's the first tip. Just take care of yourself. Prioritize your holistic health.
00:03:27
Speaker
Number two is set boundaries. This is all about setting boundaries of things that you can do, what you're willing to do. You don't have to go to every event, every party, every family gathering, every work gathering. You can say no. It's okay to say no. It's okay to prioritize certain things and activities and say no.
00:03:47
Speaker
to others. It is not your job to please everybody. And this is the key. Prioritize what is most important and valuable to you.
Seeking Support & Mindfulness Practices
00:03:56
Speaker
Number three, reach out for support. Don't hesitate to reach out to those close friends of yours. Maybe some family that you feel you can talk to and be safe with, that you feel you can be open with where they're going to hear you and support you. And if you need more, if you're feeling more down, if you're actually struggling with more significant
00:04:14
Speaker
anxiety or worry or sadness, maybe borderline depression, you can always reach out to a mental health professional to get some extra support. See these different people, they can provide listening ear, they can provide wisdom, guidance and encouragement to help you navigate this season.
00:04:29
Speaker
Number four, and this is one for some of us that we are already doing, some of us have never tried, but that's to practice mindfulness. That is to say, practice being present to the day, practice being present to yourself, practice being present to those around you, your family, your friends, maybe coworkers, to the people you come across in the street, your mailman, whomever, but practice being
00:04:50
Speaker
We get so caught up in the hustle and the bustle. We get so caught up in the things. We get pulled in a million different directions that we're not even present to the moment. We're not present to ourselves. We're not present to our loved ones. We are caught up in, again, that stress of things we think we have to do. So practice mindfulness, practice paying attention as well to your thoughts, to your feelings, and notice if you're casting any judgment. In fact, if you want to go a little further, you can practice meditation and taking breathing techniques.
00:05:19
Speaker
and practicing observing your thoughts and your feelings without judgment, practicing noticing your beliefs and just taking a step back from time to time. See, when you practice mindfulness, this can help you stay calm. It can help you stay present. It can help de-stress you. It can help you not get up in just the chaos that is the holiday season, especially with all the stuff that TV's saying or commercials are saying that they think you should have or need to have. It's so easy. So just pause, breathe, be mindful of what you're doing.
00:05:47
Speaker
And this is one, not to sound cliche, but that's the focus on the positives. I know people say that, just be positive. But there is something, in fact, science now shows this with brain scan imaging that thinking about positive things, being grateful, being thankful, focusing on the good actually changes your brain chemistry, changes your body chemistry. It can reduce stress hormones in cortisol, it can
00:06:10
Speaker
It can increase blood flow. It can increase dopamine in your brain and increase serotonin. Be thankful. Have a practice of gratitude during this season. Remember the memories that are good. Remember the things that are most important to you in your life. Focus on your values.
00:06:28
Speaker
And of those things that you find positive, that you find most important, spend time with those people that align with those values and those positives. Do activities that bring you joy, that align with those positives. And remember your reasons during this season. Remember why you are engaging in this season.