Tips for Minimizing Stress this Holiday Season – #ONatural

What’s your favorite part about the Holidays? Mine is no doubt spending time with my family. In second place, would be all the delicious food! hehe How about your least favorite thing? Mine is stress. I bet it’s your least favorite too! Is there anything more annoying than stress!? Seriously, we work so hard to make sure the holidays are fabulous for our entire family and we are rewarded with stress. Not cool!

My holiday stress is a little different from most. I know many people end up getting sick because of it. I don’t exactly get sick, but every single year I lose my voice! Not a sore throat or a cold, but I lose my voice. I only see certain family members once a year, during the holidays, and they’ve only heard my creepy holiday stressed voice. haha I wish I was kidding!

I must admit that I did not lose my voice last year. It was the first time in at least 15 years! And that’s how I realized that all the previous years I must have been stressed out. I did a few things differently last year that I’m pretty certain helped make the holidays easier on me.

Tips for Minimizing Stress this Holiday Season

Make a shopping list.
When shopping for the holidays, it’s important to make a list of things you want to buy and for who. If you have everything in your mind, your brain is working hard at keeping everything in order. Having a list frees your brain from clutter. You can check out my shopping list method here: list shopper.

Look forward to special  moments.
Remember what’s the most important thing about the holidays; spending time with your loved ones. Look forward to special moments, like this magical moment last year:

Don’t over book.
It’s ok to not attend every single party you’ve been invited too. Going from party to party can drain you. We used to spend the 24th, 25th, and 26th traveling and going from one place to another, then we wondered why we felt so drained after. Duh..

Prepare food ahead.
I find that during the holiday we eat a lot, but not necessarily things that we should. I like to make sure I have lots of veggies and fruits at home so that when we get home from a family get-together we can snack on healthy stuff. I also have a couple of meals ready to go, just in case. I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce last weekend and put it in small containers in the freezer. I just have to thaw it and cook pasta. Just knowing that I have some meals ready eases my mind greatly.

Go outside.
Spend some time outside. Go for a walk, play in the snow, build a snowman, etc… Fresh air and movement can do wonders on your body and mind.

Laugh and laugh a lot.
Have some fun! Laugh! Play with your kids, tell jokes, share stories with your family… have fun! Laughter is something that instantly helps soothe stress!

Get some rest.
Sleep is oh so important. During the holidays we tend to push ourselves a lot and our body needs rest! If you can’t sleep the recommended 7-8 hours, try to take naps during the day. When I have a hard time sleeping I use Orange Naturals Sleep (you can read all about my troubles sleeping). I also really like Orange Naturals Rhodiola (Stress buster in a bottle!).

I sure hope that some of these tips will be helpful to you!
What are you tips and tricks for keeping your stress level low during the Holidays?

Orange Naturals has many supplements that can help the entire family deal with stress.
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Have a FABULOUS day!

Disclosure: I am part of the Orange Naturals Mom Ambassador Program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.