🎊Holiday time is stressful already with gift buying, travel and preparing for family gatherings. Adding holiday work parties and year-end deadlines means this time of year gets pretty stressful! In fact, a work/life balance poll by Monster found that:
🔴61% of workers feel negatively impacted during the holiday season
🔴44% experience above-average stress
🔴17% report a decrease in their well-being.
It's clear that this is a rough time for many but what can we do about it? Not participating in gift-giving isn’t really a thing and skipping holiday parties isn't a good idea, either…
While I don’t recommend taking on an additional stressor of big lifestyle changes (save those for the new year), I do see a few actions you can take:
🌟Eliminate whatever drama you can. Maybe there's a project you can leave until after you get back. Instead of spending lots of time finding the perfect, personalized gift, choose a gift card and add a heartfelt note instead. Consider skipping one party and instead schedule a dinner with people you'll miss. Also, when attending gatherings, try to limit your intake of alcohol or caffeine. In large quantities, these can make you feel more depressed/anxious and actually decrease your performance at work.
🌟Reduce the stress of the activities you choose to keep. Don't shop for the perfect outfit for get-togethers. Don't offer to take on more responsibility for work projects. Don't drink too much at parties. Most importantly, don't let people get to you! Let things go. Your coworkers are stressed out, too, so maybe they didn't mean it that way. Or maybe they meant to include you but forgot. Most drama is caused by misunderstanding or a case of being oblivious - not malice.
🌟Add coping mechanisms to help boost your well-being. Take more time off from work. Promise yourself you'll fully disconnect during your time off so you can power through the final push. (Actually do that!) Looking at the Monster poll again, 27% plan on carving out time to decompress alone and 21% intend on exercising to reduce stress. And I’m not talking about a whole new exercise routine. Maybe take a 15 minute walk at lunch🚶♀️🚶🚶♂️. Or do 3 sets of 50 mountain climbers after work - that'll burn off the stress! 💪
Whatever your approach, be mindful of problems and take time to figure out solutions. This time of year is a mix of stress, joy, drama and family. Navigating choices and managing our health takes planning and conscious effort. 💫