Who’s excited to go home for the holidays? And who is feeling holiday stress coming on? Maybe both? I hear you.
Though the holidays can be a joyful and magical time, holiday stress is a very real thing.
One of my favorite quotes is, “If you think you’re enlightened, spend a week with your family.”
It’s easy to think you’re evolved if you surround yourself with people who think, act and vote in accordance with you. That gets put to the test when we burst our insular bubbles and head home for the holidays.
Our family installed our buttons, so they know exactly how to push them.
So, instead of going in to the holidays with the goal of trying to fix everybody, to prove to everybody what a success you are, or to try to get all that validation that we didn’t get when we were children, what if instead we used this holiday season as an opportunity to deliver love? I promise it’s going to make it feel better for you, and may even transform the behavior of those around you.
That’s why I’m sharing some of my most favorite tips on how to navigate your family time more elegantly this year. Inside you’ll learn:
- How to “mind the gap” — a useful technique to ground yourself when holiday stress is feeling particularly intense
- My favorite strategy for when the proverbial “stuff” starts hitting the fan
- Why you should keep your conference calls with your “boss” over the holidays
Hopefully these techniques allow you to approach each interaction with compassion and real kindness.