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Thanksgiving kicks off weeks of eating, shopping, parties, and family gatherings. Most people feel a mix of joy and anxiety right before and during the holidays. Statistics show that up to 69 percent of people are stressed by lack of time, 69 percent are stressed by a lack of money, and 51 percent are stressed out about the pressure to give or get gifts.

A British study examined people’s stress levels and other behavior during the holiday season. For anyone feeling less than on top of things, the turning point from mild to severe stress comes on December 18 and peaks on Christmas Day. According to respondents in the study, the most stressful parts of the holidays are gift shopping (56 percent), crowds and lines (54 percent), cleaning (45 percent), knowing what to get people (38 percent), and cooking (36 percent).

It’s important to take steps to help yourself enjoy more and stress less during the holidays. Here are some tips to help you do less and enjoy the season more.

Take care of you! We worry so much about setting a nice table; buying and cooking the food; decorating the house; and buying the presents, we forget to spend quiet time. Make sure to put yourself on your priority list and high up on the list at that. At the end of the year, you’ll remember only the moments, not the details.

Ask for help. Delegate tasks this holiday season. For example, ask each person who is coming to your house to bring something. Make your holidays not about the cooking but more about the socializing.

Tell family and friends what you can and can’t do. If you know this will be a tough financial holiday season, then recommend other options like gifts for the kids only, a grab bag, the charity option, or drawing names.

This is the time of year that we should spend more time counting our blessings, remembering what we have instead of worrying about what we don’t. Take a minute to appreciate the abundance of love, health, family, and friends. Teach your kids about abundance by letting them know that the most important things in life are the things that make us the happiest.

Andrea Groth Wellbeing Detective

Andrea wants to live in a world where the neighborhoods are walkable, bike lanes are plentiful, and the food is fresh, delicious and readily available.

A 20-year veteran of the health and wellness industry, she started her career in the fitness industry while earning a master’s degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion, and then on to the burgeoning field of worksite wellness. Andrea has competed in collegiate level soccer, worked as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, wellness coach, and master trainer, climbed 14ers, and completed cycling centuries and metric centuries. All of these experiences give her the opportunity to view well-being from many different perspectives.
When she’s not helping others to be their healthiest self, you can find her at a farm to table restaurant, down dogging at the yoga studio, or experiencing the Colorado landscape on a bicycle, snowshoes, cross country skis or on foot.